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ADRIFT ON THE 
PACIFIC 

O.Vy The Secret of the Isla?id Cave 


ROY ROCKWOOD ^-^-3 

AUTHOR OF “the RIVAL OCEAN DIVERS,” “ THE 
CRUISE OF THE TREASURE SHIP,” ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW YORK 

GROSSET & DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS 





; 



I Two Copies rtecf^-jL' 

APR 27 1908 


z-c> / ^ j 

j O QHY a. 


JLAJ5i>/A- KXc< WOi 

2- O / V 


THE DEEP SEA SERIES 

By ROY ROCKWOOD 


THE RIVAL OCEAN DIVERS 

Or, The Search for a Sunken Treasure 

THE CRUISE OF THE TREASURE SHIP 
Or, The Castaways of Floating Island 

ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

Or, The Secret of the Island Cave 


COPTOIGHT, 1908 
BY 

GROSSET & DUNLAP 


Adrift on 't'hc factfic 



4 t 






STRADDLING THE RAIL, THE INTRUDER CROUCHED — Pa£^e 6S 
Adrift on the Pacific. 



PREFACE 


The present tale is a companion story to 
^The Rival Ocean Divers’’ and ^The Cruise of 
the Treasure Ship,” issued a short time ago. 

The first story related the adventures of an 
expert deep-sea diver and his son, who went in 
quest of a treasure said to be lost at the bot- 
tom of the Pacific Ocean. The quest was full 
of many perils, but in the end the treasure 
was found and gotten safely on board of a 
ship bound for San Francisco. 

Dave Fearless and his father expected to 
get the treasure to our country without trou- 
ble, but in this they were mistaken. They had 
numerous enemies, and in the volume called 
^^The Cruise of the Treasure Ship” was told 
how the treasure was stolen and what this 
theft led to — many adventures on the sea and 
on an island inhabited by savages. 

In the present volume are related the final 
efforts of our friends to get the treasure to a 
place of safety. It was a serious undertaking, 
for their enemies were desperate and willing 
iii 


IV 


PEEFACE 


to take all kinds of chances to get the gold in 
their possession. I think the reader will fol- 
low the doings of Dave Fearless with interest, 
and if the chronicle of life on the bosom of the 
broad ocean proves entertaining I shall be 
much gratified. 


Roy Rockwood. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

Splendid Fortune 

• 

• 

• 

m 

PAGE 

I 

II. 

Foul Play . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

11 

III. 

Mr. Schmitt-Schmitt . 

• 

• 

• 

« 

21 

IV. 

A Pair of Schemers 

• 

• 

• 

• 

29 

V. 

Doctor Barbell’s “Accident” 

• 

• 

« 

41 

VI. 

The Pilot’s Plot . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

53 

VII. 

The Mysterious Jar . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

64 

VIII. 

Outwitting an Enemy 

9 

« 

• 

« 

72 

IX. 

A Bold Project . 

9 

• 

• 

• 

80 

X. 

The Wooded Island 

• 

• 

• 

• 

88 

XI. 

A Race for Life . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

97 

XII. 

Overboard 

• 

• 

• 

• 

107 

XIII. 

Adrift on the Pacific 

• 

0 

• 

• 

117 

XIV. 

Strange Companions . 

• 

0 

• 

• 

125 

XV. 

A Perilous Cruise 

• 

9 

• 

• 

135 

XVI. 

Landed .... 

• 

• 

• 

• 

142 

XVII. 

A Remarkable Scene . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

149 

XVIII. 

The Outcast’s Secret . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

156 

XIX. 

A Day of Adventures . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

162 

XX. 

On Board the “Swallow” 

• 

• 

• 

• 

169 

XXI. 

The Island Harbor 

« 

• 

• 


176 

XXII. 

The House of Tears . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

183 

XXIII. 

Ready fob Action 


0 

0 

0 

190 


Y 


VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XXIV. 

In the Royal Palace 

• 


PAGE 

. 196 

XXV. 

The Captives 

• 

• 

. 203 

XXVI. 

A Thrilling Adventure . 

• 

• 

. 208 

XXVII. 

The Poisoned Darts . 

# 

• 

. 213 

XXVIII. 

A Wild Ride 

• 

• 

. 221 

XXIX. 

Found! . . . 

• 

• 

. 226 

XXX. 

Disaster .... 

• 

• 

. 231 

XXXI. 

A Lucky Find . 

♦ 

• 

. 236 

XXXII. 

Conclusion 

• 

« 

. 241 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Chaptek I 

SPLENDID FORTUNE 

gone! It's gone!^’ 

^^What is gone, Dave?” 

^^The treasure, Bob.” 

^^But it was on board — in the boxes.” 

^^No — those boxes are filled with old iron 
and lead. We have been tricked, robbed! 
After all our trouble, hardship, and peril, I 
fear that the golden reward we counted on so 
grandly has slipped from our grasp.” 

It was on the deck of the Swallow, moored 
in the harbor of a far-away Pacific Ocean 
tropical island, that Dave Fearless spoke. He 
had just rushed up from the cabin in a great 
state of excitement. 

Below loud, anxious, and angry voices 
sounded. As one after another of the officers 
and sailors appeared on the deck, all of them 
looked pale and perturbed. 


2 


ADEIFT OX THE Px\CIFIC 


What might be called a terrific, an over- 
whelming discovery had jnst been made by 
Captain Paul Broadbeam and by Dave’s 
father, Amos Fearless, the veteran ocean 
diver. 

For two weeks, after a hard battle with the 
sea and its monsters, after fighting savages 
and piratical enemies, the beautiful steamer, 
the Sicallow, had plowed through sun-tipped 
waves, favored by gentle breezes, homeward- 
bound. 

Every heart on board had been light and 
happy. Labeled and sealed on the sandy fioor 
of the ballast room, lay four boxes believed to 
contain over half a million dollars in gold 
coin. 

Legally this vast treasure belonged to xAmos 
and Dave Fearless, father and son. To those 
who had aided and protected them, however, 
from Doctor Barrell, on board the Stvalloiv to 
make deep-sea soundings and secure speci- 
mens of rare marine monsters for the United 
States Government, down to Bob Vilett, 
Dave’s chosen chum and the ambitious young 
assistant engineer of the vessel, every soul on 
board knew that when they reached San Fran- 
cisco, the generous ocean diver and his son 
would make a most liberal division of the 


SPLENDID FORTUNE 3 

splendid fortune they had fished up in mid- 
ocean. 

As said, the serenity of these fond hopes 
was now rudely blasted. Dave, rushing up 
on deck quite pale and agitated, had made the 
announcement that brought Bob to his feet 
with a shock. 

They were two sturdy boys. The flavor of 
the briny deep was manifest in their bronzed 
faces, their attire, their clear bright eyes, and 
sinewy muscles. They had known hardship 
and peril such as make men resolute and 
brave. Although Dave was deeply distressed, 
determination rather than despair was indi- 
cated in the way in which he took the bad, bad 
news now being conveyed with lightning 
speed, mostly with depressing effect, all 
through the ship. 

Bob Vilett steadied himself against a cap- 
stan and stared in silence at his chum. 
Dave^s hand grasped the bow rail with an iron 
grip, as if thereby seeking to relieve his tense 
feelings. His eyes were directed away from 
Bob, away from the ship, fixedly, almost 
sternly, scanning the ocean stretch that spread 
almost inimitably towards the west. It 
seemed as if mentally he was going back over 
the long course they had just pursued, never 


4 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


dreaming that they were carrying a ballast of 
worthless old junk instead of the royal fortune 
on which they had fondly counted. 

‘^Well, all I^ve got to say/’ observed Bob at 
length, with a great sigh, ‘^is that it’s pretty 
tough.” 

“I fancy,” responded Dave, in a set, thought- 
ful way, ^Tt’s a case of three times and out. 
We fished it up — one. We’ve lost it — two. 
We must find it again — three. That’s all.” 

‘Wou’re drearhing !” vociferated Bob. ^‘Say, 
Dave Fearless, you’re a genius and a worker, 
but if you mean that there is the least hope in 
the world in going back over a course of over 
a thousand miles hunting up men with a two 
weeks’ start of us — desperate men, too — scour- 
ing a trackless ocean for fellows who have to 
hide, and know how to do it, why, it’s — bosh !” 

^‘Bob Vilett,” said Dave, with set lip and un- 
flinching eye, ^‘we are only boys, but we have 
tried to act like men, and Captain Broadbeam 
respects us for it. We have his confidence. 
He is old, not much of a thinker, but brave as 
a lion and ready for any honest, logical sug- 
gestion. Here’s a dilemma, a big one. You 
and I — young, quick, ardent — we must think 
for him. We have been robbed. We must 
catch the thieves. We must recover that 


SPLENDID EOETUNE 


5 


treasure. Where’s the best and surest, and 
the quickest way to do it? Put on your think- 
ing-cap, Bob, and try and do some of the 
hardest brain work of your life.” 

^^Hold on^ — where are you goidg?” de- 
manded Bob, as his chum went away over into 
a remote corner of the bow and sat down on 
an isolated water barrel. 

But Dave only waved his hand peremp- 
torily, almost irritably, at Bob. His chum 
knew that it would be useless to renew the 
conversation just now. He had seen Dave 
in just such a mood on other occasions — it 
was when affairs were going wrong and 
needed straightening out. 

“All right,” murmured Bob resignedly, 
moving over to where some glum-faced sailors 
were discussing the disappointment of the 
hour in a group. “It won’t hurt any of us to 
have Dave Fearless do some of that tall think- 
ing of his. Oh, dear! All that money gone. 
And after all we went through to get it !” 

Meanwhile Dave Fearless sat posed like a 
statue. His gaze was fixed beyond the little 
inlet where the Swallow was moored, straight 
across the unbroken ocean stretch. His 
thoughts just then, however, were not fixed on 
the west, but rather on the east. A vivid 


6 


ADRIFT O]^' THE PACIFIC 


panorama of his stirring adventures of the 
past few months seemed spread out to his 
mental eye. They went back to the start of 
what the present moment seemed to be the 
finish. 

Dave’s home was at Quanatack, along the 
coast of Long Island Sound. There for many 
years his father had been an expert master 
diver, and Dave himself, reared beside the sea 
and loving it, had done service as a light- 
house assistant. 

In the first volume of the present series, 
entitled ^^The Rival Ocean Divers,” it was 
told how they one day learned that they were 
direct heirs of the Washington family, who 
twenty years previous had acquired a fortune 
of nearly a million dollars in China. This, 
all in gold coin, had been shipped in the 
Happy Hour for San Francisco. A storm 
overtook the vessel, which sunk in two miles 
of water in mid-ocean with the treasure 
aboard. 

Amos Fearless secured a chart showing the 
exact location of the wreck. Unfortunately 
two distant relatives, a miserly trickster 
named Lem Hankers and his worthless son, 
Bart, learned of the sunken treasure, too. 
They proceeded to San Francisco and were 


SPLENDID FOPiTUNE 


1 


joined bj a rascally partner named Pete 
Kackley. The trio chartered from a wrecking 
company the Raven ^ Captain Nesik in com- 
mand, and engaged a professional diver 
named Cal Vixen. 

The Fearlesses, learning of this, hastened 
their plans. An old friend of the diver. Cap- 
tain Broadbeam, was just then starting out 
with the Swallow y to convey a well-known 
scientist from Washington to mid-ocean. The 
SivalloiD was equipped with the finest diving 
bells and apparatus for capturing and pre- 
serving rare monsters of the deep. Broad- 
beam agreed to incidentally assist Amos Fear- 
less in the search for the sunken treasure. 

The rival divers located this at about the 
same time. Thrilling experiences followed, 
terrific battles with submarine monsters, hair- 
breadth perils on the ocean bed. The Han- 
kers and their diver after several efforts gave 
up the quest. Dave and his father stuck at it 
until one day they located the hull of the 
Happy Hour, Bag after bag of gold they 
stored in their Costell diving bell, until all 
the treasure was conveyed safely to the hold 
of the Swallow, Then they set sail for home. 

Pete Rackley had managed to secrete him- 
self aboard. He disabled the machinery of 


8 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


the Sioallow. This was the starting-point of 
a new series of adventures as related in our 
second volume, ‘‘The Cruise of the Treasure 
Ship.” 

It noAv became plot and warfare on the part 
of the disgruntled Hankers and their friends. 
The result was that one dark and foggy night 
the schemers succeeded in stealing aboard of 
the Sivallotv. Captain Broadbeam, Bob 
Vilett, Doctor Barrell, and the Fearlesses 
were put ashore on a lonely island, and the 
Raven steamed away with the captured 
convoy. 

A sixth person was also marooned. This 
was one Pat Stoodles, a whimsical Irishman, 
who had been previously rescued by the Bivah 
loiv from this same island, where for several 
^ ars he had been the king of its savage in- 
habitants. 

“The Cruise of the Treasure Ship” has told 
graphically of the many adventures of the 
marooned. Stoodles reassumed his kingship 
temporarily and helped his friends out of 
many a sore dilemma. A cy cl one and an earth- 
quake drove all hands to a neighboring island. 
Finally Dave and Bob discovered the Swalloiv, 
somewhat dismantled, lying off the coast of 
the island. They boarded her to find Mr. 


SPLENDID FORTUNE 


0 


Drake, the boatswain, Mike Conners, the cook, 
and Ben Adams, the engineer, handcuffed in 
the cabin. These men had refused to navi- 
gate the Stvallow for Captain Nesik. They 
told how the cyclone had parted the two ves- 
sels and the Swallow had been driven to her 
present isolated moorings. They told also of 
the four boxes into which they had seen the 
Hankers place the sunken treasure. 

For a second time, believing their enemies 
and the Raven lost in the storm, the Fearless 
party started homeward. Incidentally they 
had enabled a worthy young fellow named 
Henry Dale to earn a large sum by towing 
with them a lost derelict ship. This they had 
turned over to an ocean liner they met. Then, 
the Swallow needing some repairs, they had 
headed for Minotaur Island, their present 
port of moorage. 

This island had originally belonged to the 
government of Chili. Just now, however, it 
was claimed by Peru, and was also in a cer- 
tain state of rebellion. The governor was a 
miserly and tricky individual, and had de- 
manded a large sum from Captain Broadbeam 
before he would let him moor the Swallow, 

He sent out as pilot a wretched, drunken 
fellow, who ran the Swallotv into an obscure 


10 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


creek where she struck some obstacle, tearing 
a hole in her hull. 

Thus disabled, Captain Broadbeam found 
it necessary to shift the various articles in the 
hold. The four sealed boxes were removed, 
and Amos Fearless naturally suggested that 
they take a look at their golden fortune. 

Ten minutes later the startling discovery 
was made which has been recorded in the 
opening lines of the present chapter — 

The great Washington fortune was not, as 
had all along been supposed, aboard of the 
Swalloiv, 


CHAPTER II 


f FOUL PLAY 

Captain Paul Broadbeam came up on 
deck, his face red as a peony, his brow dark as 
a thundercloud. 

He was manifestly irritated. In his great 
foghorn bass voice he gave out a dozen quick 
orders. His evident intention was to break 
up the little groups discussing the happening 
of the hour. 

“Avast there !” he roared to a special set of 
four seamen they had taken on at Mercury Isl- 
and a week previous. “No mutinous confabs 
allowed here. If you expected something 
never promised, that’s your lookout. Those 
that can’t be satisfied with plain square wages 
can take their kits ashore.” 

Amos Fearless had followed the captain 
from the cabin. The veteran ocean diver 
looked greatly disappointed and distressed. 
He made out Dave and went over to where he 
sat. 


11 


12 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


‘Well, my son,” lie said, disturbing Dave’s 
deep reverie by placing a trembling hand 
on his shoulder, “this is a bad piece of 
news,” 

“Yes, father,” replied Dave gravely. 

“We’ve been big fools,” continued Amos 
Fearless, with a sigh and a dejected shake of 
his head. “Might better have kept to our 
sure pay back at Quanatack. We are only 
humble folk, Dave, and should have been 
satisfied with our lot. Might have known 
million-dollar fortunes don’t come falling on 
such as we, except in story-books.” 

“Wrong, father!” said Dave sharply. “I 
don’t look at it that way at all. We are the 
legal Washington heirs, and had a right to 
expect wli^ was our due. It was a clear-cut, 
honest;piece of business.” 

“Well, it’s turned out worse than nothing 
for us.” 

“I don’t see that, either,” observed Dave. 
“We went at the matter right. We located 
the sunken treasure. Someone has stolen it. 
Surely, father, you don’t mean to tell me that 
you will fold your hands meekly and make no 
effort to recover the fortune we have worked 
so hard for? Why, father,” declared Dave, 
with spirit, “all we may have to go through 


FOUL PLAY 


13 


can’t begin to be as difficult and dangerous as 
what we have already accomplished. It looks 
simple and plain to me — our duty.” 

“Does it now?” murmured the old diver in 
a thoughtful way. 

“Yes. Someone stole that treasure, and of 
course it was the Hankers and Captain Nesik 
and that crew of rascals. Well, father, they 
can’t spend it on a desert island in mid-ocean, 
can they?” 

“Why, I suppose not,” said the diver. 

“Certainly not. They will try to get back 
to civilization. Now I have been thinking out 
the whole matter. Mr. Drake, our boatswain, 
saw the Hankers make a great show of putting 
the gold into the four wooden boxes. Now we 
find out that this was just a pretense to de- 
ceive the crew of the Raven. Later, of course, 
they secretly removed it. To where, father? 
To the Raven? If so, they ran into a bad 
predicament. From what the Island Wind- 
jammers told Pat Stoodles the last they saw 
of the Raven she was scudding along in the cy- 
clone, completely disabled. If she stranded, 
of course they hurried out the treasure before 
she sank. Then it is hidden somewhere 
among those islands where we had our hard 
fight for existence. The survivors are either 


14 


ADEIFT 0 ^ THE PACIFIC 


waiting there hoping some ship will stray 
their way, or they fixed up the Raven 
and are making for the South American 
coast.^’ 

^‘That’s a pretty long talk, but a sensible 
one, Dave,’’ said the old diver, brightening ui) 
a good deal. ‘^Go ahead, my son — supposing 
all this?” 

‘^Yes, father,” said Dave, ‘^supposing all 
this.” 

^Well, what then?” 

^<Why, the next thing is to prove I am right 
or partly right. We must go back to the 
Windjammers’ Island and hunt for a trace of 
the Raven. Stoodles can make his old sub- 
jects, the natives, tell what they know. If we 
find that the Raven was not wrecked and has 
made for the South American coast, then we 
must put right after them.” 

^^Dave, you give me a good deal of courage,” 
said Amos Fearless — ^‘you make me ashamed 
of my despair. I’m old, though, you see, and 
this is a big disappointment.” 

‘‘Don’t you fret, father. I feel certain that 
prompt work will soon put us on the track of 
the treasure.” 

“I’ll speak to Captain Broadbeam right > 
away,” said the old diver, and Dave was 


FOUL PLAY 


pleased to see liow nimbly his father started 
off, encouraged and hopeful from the little 
talk he had given him. 

Bob Vilett had been watching Dave all this 
time. The young diver did not sit meditating 
any longer. He had thought out what had to 
be done. Now he must decide how to do it. 
He paced up and down with smart steps. 
Bob started to rejoin him. There was an in- 
terruption. 

A man half-dressed, one boot on and carry- 
ing the other in his hand, came banging up the 
cabin steps. 

“Bad cess to it! Begorra! Who tuk it — 
who tuk it?’’ he shouted. 

This was Pat Stoodles. He seemed to have 
just awakened and to have learned of the as- 
tounding discovery of the hour. Making out 
Dave, who was a great favorite with him, 
Stoodles sprinted with his long limbs across 
the deck. 

“Wirra, now, me broth of a boy, tell me it’s 
false!” implored Pat. 

“If you mean that we’ve got four boxes of 
junk aboard instead of gold,” said Dave, “un- 
fortunately it’s true.” 

“Acushla ! luk at that now,” groaned 
Stoodles, throwing up his hands in sheer dis- 


16 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

may. ^^And I was to have had a thousand 
dollars.’’ 

“More than that, Mr. Stoodles,” answered 
Dave. “You have been one of our good loyal 
friends, and my father has often planned 
starting you in a nice paying business, had we 
reached San Francisco with the treasure.” 

“Hear that, now!” cried Stoodles. “Didn’t 
I write that same thing to my brother in New 
York? Didn’t I tell him I’d be home, loaded 
down with gold? I sent the letter from 
Mercury Island. And now I must write him 
again, telling him it was all a poor foolish old 
fellow’s dream. All I’ve got is my losht 
dignity as king of the Windjammers.” 

Poor Stoodles tore his sparse hair and 
looked the picture of gloom and discon- 
tent. 

“I’ll write to my brother at once,” he re- 
sumed. “Have you a postage stamp to spare, 
Dave?” 

“They use the Chilian stamps here, I be- 
lieve,” replied Dave. “You will have to go 
to the town to get one, Mr. Stoodles.” 

“I can accommodate you,” spoke a brisk, 
pleasant voice promptly. 

All hands turned sharply to view the 
speaker. Dave, in some surprise, saw a 


FOUL PLAY 


17 


bronzed bright-faced young man coming up a 
rope ladder swung over the side of the 
Swalloiv, 

Dave had never seen him before. The new- 
comer had rowed up the creek in a skiff. 
Looking down into this, Dave saw an artistes 
sketching outfit, also a camera. 

‘‘Excuse me,’’ said this newcomer, “if I am 
intruding here. I am a traveling artist out 
for health and views. Thought I’d take a 
picture of your ship, if you don’t object.” 

“Not in the least,” answered Dave courte- 
ously, although the request came at a time 
when his thoughts were absorbed with more 
important matters. 

“And again,” said the young fellow, “I 
wanted to see some home faces and hear home 
voices. My name is Adair. I live in Ver- 
mont. By the way, though,” he continued to 
Stoodles, taking out a w^allet, “you asked for 
a postage stamp, I believe?” 

The speaker ran over the compartments in 
the w^allet. A stray gust of wind caught a 
little paper fragment it held, blew it up into 
the air, and Stoodles caught it just as it w^as 
being carried over the rail into the water. 

“Good,” said Adair gratefully. “I wouldn’t 
like to lose that, I can tell you.” 


18 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


postage stamp, too, isn’t it?” asked 
Stoodles, looking at it. 

^A^es,” nodded Adair, ‘^and a pretty valu- 
able one. You see it is canceled and ragged. 
That don’t matter. For all that, the little 
scrap of paper is worth over two hundred 
dollars.” 

^^You don’t tell me!” gasped Stoodles, star- 
ing at the stamp vaguely. 

‘That’s right,” insisted Adair. “Here’s an 
island stamp,” he added, extending one to Pat. 
“No, don’t bother making change for that 
trifle. Want to see it?” continued the young 
man, extending the canceled stamp to Dave. 

“I used to have quite a collection myself at 
home,” explained Dave, glancing with in- 
terest at the canceled stamp. “Morania? I 
never heard of that.” 

“No, a short and solemn history, that of 
Morania,” said Adair. “It was one of the 
South Sea islands with a population of about 
one thousand natives. Some shrewd Yankee 
got their king to establish a post office, so he 
could sell the government a stamp-printing 
outfit. There wasn’t much business, but one 
day Morania without any warning was swept 
to destruction by a tidal wave. Very few let- 
ters had ever been sent out. Of course the 


FOUL PLAY 


19 


few stamps to be had became immensely valu- 
able. I have managed to pick up four of them 
in my travels. I value them at one thousand 
dollars.” 

‘‘Why ” said Dave, with a sudden start, 

and glanced at Stoodles queerly. Whatever 
the artist’s story had suggested, however, 
Dave did not have time to explain. Captain 
Broadbeam came storming by like a mad lion. 

“There’s foul work here,” he roared — “foul 
work all around. First that stupid, drunken 
pilot runs us afoul of a snag and stove a hole 
in our bottom. Now that rascally governor 
sends word asking a small fortune for the tim- 
ber and truck and men to mend up the ^wal- 
lotv. All right. Pipe the crew, bosun. 
We’ll have to overhaul the keel ourselves and 
do the best mending we can. Then I’m out of 
these latitudes mighty quick, I can tell you!” 

“Don’t he know?” inquired Adair, stepping 
closer to Dave’s side and speaking confiden- 
tially. 

“Know what?” inquired Dave, in some sur- 
prise. 

“Why, that the snag he ran into, or rather 
the snag the pilot ran him into, w^as a sunken 
brig that everybody on the island has known 
for years blocked the creek bottom,” 


20 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


that so?^’ said Dave. 

^^As I get it from the talk of the natives 
here, yes,” said Adair. 

^‘Did the pilot know it was there?” asked 
Dave. 

‘^Could he miss knowing it?” demanded 
Adair. ^^Truth is, I came down here with a 
sort of fellow-feeling in my mind for you peo- 
ple. The governor here and his friends bleed 
every American they get hold of. They are a 
precious set of thieves, and when I heard of 
your predicament I wondered what new mis- 
chief they were up to.” 

^^Then,” said Dave, in a startled way, ^‘you 
mean to insinuate that the pilot ran the Swal- 
low into her present fix purposely?” 

“I do,” nodded Adair. 

^^Why?” demanded Dave, with a quick 
catch of excitement in his voice — ‘^vhy did he 
do it?” 


CHAPTER III 


MR. SCHMITT-SCHMITT 

^^Yes,” cried Bob Vilett impulsively. 
^^Wliy did the pilot try to wreck the 
Swallow f’ 

The young engineer had been an interested 
listener to the conversation that had passed 
between Dave and Adair. The latter shrugged 
his shoulders. 

‘^Sheer natural meanness and hatred of 
foreigners/’ he said, “or they mean to delay 
you.” 

“Why should they delay us?” protested 
Dave. 

“To bleed you. The longer you stay here 
the more they will get out of you. They over- 
charge for everything, make you pay, and fine 
you, and make you trouble on every little tech- 
nicality of the law that wretched governor 
can dig up.” 

“Why, that’s abominable!” declared Bob. 

“You see, the island here is in a squabble 
21 


22 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


between Chili and Peru/’ explained the artist. 
‘^The governor has set up an independent 
dictatorship. He knows it can’t continue^ so 
he is hurrying to make all the money he can 
out of his position while it lasts.” 

^Ht looks as if you have given us some pretty 
straight information,” said Dave seriously. 

must tell Captain Broadbeam. No,” Dave 
checked himself. ^H’ll wait till I am sure of 
what you suspect, and look a little deeper into 
this matter.” 

^‘There’s a group I’d like to take,” inter- 
rupted Adair, glancing with an artist’s fine 
interest at the sailors of the Sicallow getting 
some tackle out to keel the ship. 

He seized a boathook and, leaning over the 
side, caught its end in his camera outfit lying 
in the skiff below. 

“There are some island views, if you would 
like to look them over,” he observed, unstrap- 
ping a square portfolio from the camera rack. 

Adair set up his portable tripod and fo- 
cussed the group amidships. Dave turned 
over the photographs in the portfolio. 

“You’ll find a pretty good picture of that 
rascally pilot,” said Adair. “Third one, I 
think.” 

“I’ve got it,” nodded Dave, “and — say !” 


MR. SCHMITT-SCHMITT 


23 


So violent was this ejaculation that Adair 
was startled into snapping the camera shut- 
ter before he was quite ready. 

^^You’ve spoiled my picture for me,” he said, 
but not at all crossly. ^^Why, my friend, 
what^s struck you?” 

Dave was wrought up all out of the com- 
mon. Generally cool and level-headed, his 
nerves seemed to have suddenly gone to 
pieces. 

He had dropped the portfolio, and Bob was 
scrambling to preserve its scattered contents. 
Dave himself held a single photograph in one 
hand ; with the other he was pulling Adair by 
the arm. He drew the surprised artist out of 
direct range of the others. 

‘^Look here,” he said, with difficulty steady- 
ing his trembling voice, ^^this picture?” 

^^Yes,” nodded Adair, with a casual glance 
at the photograph — ^‘our friend, the pilot.” 

‘‘There is no trouble recognizing him,” said 
Dave. “It’s the other fellow in the picture, 
I mean.” 

“Oh, do you know him?” 

“I think I do,” answered Dave, in a sup- 
pressed but intense tone. 

“Likely. He’s been haunting the harbors, 
here for several days. I happened to see the 


24 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

two sitting on that bench in front of the pilot’s 
shanty, and took a shot.” 

Dave, looking worried and hopeful, in doubt 
and suspicious, by turns, kept scanning the 
photograph. 

‘^Who is the man, anyhow?” he asked, plac- 
ing his finger on the pilot’s companion. 

‘^Schmitt-Schmitt, he calls himself — from 
the Dutch West Indies, he says.” 

‘‘He calls himself that, does he?” said Dave 
thoughtfully, “and he is a Dutchman?” 

“All I know is that he got onto the island 
here somehow — I believe from a tramp 
steamer a few days ago. He’s close up to the 
governor and the pilot. Every craft that 
touches here, he visits its captain and wants 
to charter the ship.” 

“He wants to charter a ship,” repeated 
Dave — “what for?” 

“Mysterious cruise. He has discovered an 
island full of diamonds, or a mountain of gold, 
or some such thing,” replied Adair. “He 
makes fabulous offers to any captain who will 
take a thirty-day cruise on the speculation. 
When he turns out all promises and no ready 
cash, of course the captains laugh at him. 
Been to you to join in his speculation, eh?” 

“No,” said Dave emphatically. “He knows 


ME. SCHMITT-SCHMITT 


25 


too much to try it ! Mr. Adair/^ he continued, 
warmly grasping the artist’s hand, ^^you have 
done us a service you little dream of.’’ 

“Glad of that,” responded Adair, with a 
hearty smile. 

“I don’t know how to thank you. May I 
have this picture for a day or two?” 

“Keep it — I’ve got the negative. Time to 
go, I fancy,” added Adair, as the crew crowded 
with the repair tackle in their direction. 

Dave saw the artist safely into the skiff, 
waved his hand in adieu, and went in search 
of his father. 

Amos Fearless sat in the cabin, immersed 
in deep thought. 

“What is the captain going to do, father?” 
asked Dave. 

“He’s all worked up, and I hardly know 
how to take him,” replied Mr. Fearless. “His 
only idea for the present is to get away from 
Minotaur Island; he says they’re a set of 
conscienceless plunderers.” 

“He is right in that,” declared Dave. “Did 
you suggest to him anything about searching 
for the stolen gold?” 

“I did, Dave.” 

“What did he say?” eagerly asked Dave. 

“He shook his head gloomily, said he would 


26 


ADRIFT THE PACIFIC 


like to help us out, but according to his con- 
tract with the owners of the Sioallow, he was 
due in San Francisco. You see, this cruise 
was taken by him under direction of Doctor 
Barrel!. The doctor having accomplished his 
mission, there is nothing for him to do but to 
get the government collection of curiosities 
home as soon as possible.’’ 

Dave looked somewhat cast down at this 
unfavorable report. Of course, without the 
Swallow at their service it was useless to 
think further of the stolen treasure. 

^Well, father,” he said, after a long, thought- 
ful spell, “just let things rest as they are for 
the present. Only I wish you would warn 
Captain Broadbeam to keep close watch over 
the Swallow and to allow no strangers 
aboard.” 

“Why,” exclaimed the old diver, “is there 
danger?” 

“In the air and all around us,” declared 
Dave. “I don't want to alarm you, father, 
and I don’t want to say anything further until 
I have gone up to the town here.” 

“Going ashore?” murmured his father, in an 
uneasy tone. “I wouldn’t, Dave, if things are 
not safe.” 

“Oh, they will be safe for me, as I shall take 


MR. SCHMITT-SCHMITT 


27 


Mr. Stoodles and Bob Vilett along with me. 
When I come back, father, I think I shall have 
discovered something that will put Captain 
Broadbeam on his mettle and open the way 
for one more effort to find the fortune we have 
been robbed of.^^ 

Dave went to the deck again. He sought 
out Stoodles and Bob in turn and told them 
he wished them to go to the town with him. 
Of the trio the young engineer only was under 
ship discipline. He reported to the boat* 
swain and was soon ready to join the 
others. 

They rowed down the creek to the ocean in 
a small yawl, rounded the coast, and landed 
about half a mile from the town. 

‘T’ll just drop my letter to my friends in 
New York while Ihn in town,’^ observed Pat. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Mr. 
Stoodles,” advised Dave. 

‘^Eh, why not, lad?” asked Pat. 

‘^Just a few steps further and I will tell 
you,” answered Dave. 

He led his companions to a spot where there 
were some low rocks and motioned them to be 
seated. 

^^No one can overhear us at this lonely spot, 
that is sure,” said Dave. ‘^Now then, my 


28 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


friends, I want to have a serious confidential 
talk with you.” 

Bob looked curious and Stoodles important. 

‘‘Captain Broadbeam is worried and un- 
decided,” went on Dave, “my father is slightly 
discouraged, the crew sullen and discontented 
over losing that treasure. If no one stirs up 
something, as we must do — then things will 
drop, and we will go back home poorer than 
when we started out. Now, I don’t give uj) 
so easily.” 

“Good boy!” nodded Stoodles approvingly. 

“I shall make an effort to trace our stolen 
fortune if I have to do it all alone in a canoe.” 

“If we only knew where it was,” said Bob 
Vilett. “That’s the trouble, you see, Dave. 
It may be thousands of miles away. It may 
be adrift on the ocean. It may be halfway to 
China, or divided up and squandered by that 
miserable Hankers crowd.” 

“No,” said Dave, with emphasis. “I have 
pretty good evidence in my possession that 
the treasure is safe and sound on the Wind- 
jammers’ Island.” 


CHAPTER IV 


A PAIR OF SCHEMERS 

“The treasure is on the Windjammers’ Isl- 
and !” exc-laimed Bob Vilett. 

“Yes,” nodded Dave confidently, “I have 
every reason to think so.” 

“Begorra!” cried the Irishman excitedly. 
“On my paternal dominions? On the princi- 
palities of King Patrick Stoodles? A horse, 
my kingdom for a — no, I mane a ship. Lad, 
if the goold those Hankers stole is anywhere 
among my subjects, we’ll have it back, mind 
me!” 

“Well, let me explain,” said Dave, “and 
then hear what you have to say. We three 
have shared too many perils and secrets to- 
gether, to need to be told that all I tell now is 
in strict confidence until we get ready to act.” 

“Spoke like a lawyer,” commented Stoodles. 

“Like a friend, you mean,” corrected Bob. 
“Leave it to smart Dave to work a way out of 
29 


30 ADRIFT OK THE PACIFIC 

a dilemma. I’m interested and excited, 
Dave.” 

‘Well, first and foremost,” continued Dave, 
“do you recognize tlia,t picture. Bob?” 

Dave handed out the photograph that Adair 
had given him on the 8wal1oi9. 

“Why, sure,” answered Bob promptly. 
“It’s a picture of that rascally pilot.” 

“No, no — I mean the other figure in the 
photograph.” 

“Oh — oh!” said Bob slowly, studying it. 
“N-no,” he continued, quite as slowdy. 
“Yes — no. H’m! One minute the face looks 
familiar, the next it looks strange. I can’t 
fix it, although it seems as if I’ve seen that 
man before.” 

“You have,” declared Dave. “Here, Mr. 
Stoodles, you take a try.” 

“Yes, there’s the pilot,” announced Stoodles. 
“The other is the ould pawnbroker that was 
on the Raven.’’ 

Dave’s face grew eager and bright with 
satisfaction. 

“Good for you,” he said. “I knew I was 
right. Yes, that is the man the Hankers 
picked up at San Francisco — a pawnbroker 
named Gerstein. Fie furnished some of the 
money to fit out their ship for the expedition. 


A PAIR OF SCHEMERS 


31 


Well, mj friends, Gerstein, under the false 
name of Schmitt-Schmitt, is now on this 
island.’’ 

^Then the Raven crowd escaped !” ex- 
claimed Bob. 

don’t know that,” answered Dave. 
do know that Schmitt-Schmitt appeared here 
a few days ago. He has been trying to engage 
a ship to go after a fortune he says he can 
find. Of course it’s our treasure.” 

^^The spalpane! Of coorse it is!” cried 
Stoodles excitedly. 

‘^My theory,” went on Dave, ^fis that the 
Raven was terribly disabled or lost in the cy- 
clone. I am also pretty sure that the treasure 
was saved. Perhaps it was already hidden 
somewhere on land. At all events, Schmitt- 
Schmitt was in the secret, either as the 
partner and emissary of others of the Raven 
crowd or on his own account. He managed 
to get a small boat afloat, was taken up by a 
liner, and landed here. Now his whole time 
is given, as I said, to finding a ship that 
will go after a fortune, as he terms it, on 
shares.” 

‘^Your theory is raisonable, your theory is 
right,” insisted Stoodles. 

^^Schmitt-Schmitt,” proceeded Dave, ^^made 


82 :iDRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

friends with the governor here. He seems to 
be staying at the pilot’s house. When the 
Sicallotv was sighted he at once reasoned it 
out that we had discovered the real contents 
of those four boxes, that we might be bound 
straight back for the Windjammers’ Island. 
He induced the pilot to run us onto the 
sunken brig in the creek.” 

^^Dave, I believe you’ve got this matter just 
right,” said Bob thoughtfully. 

“If that is true,” continued Dave, “they will 
do all they can to delay us. Who knoAvs but 
Avhat this rascally governor and his crew may 
intend to take the Hwallow away from us and 
furnish Schmitt-Schmitt with the very means 
he wants to go after the treasure, with no 
chance of being followed?” 

“Dave, have you told Captain Broadbeam 
about all this?” inquired Bob anxiously. 

“I haven’t had the chance. I learned what 
I have told you only in the past hour,” re- 
sponded Dave. “As soon as we return to the 
Swallow, though, I shall warn him. I had a 
purpose in coming ashore.” 

“Are we to help you, Dave?” asked Bob. 

“All hands must help. I want to locate the 
pilot’s house, I want to be sure that this 
Schmitt-Schmitt is really there and that he is 


A PAIK OF SCHEMEES 33 

the same fellow we knew as Gerstein on the 
Raven. 

'^That’s easy/’ declared Stoodles. '^The 
picture gives us a hint as to the house.” 

‘^We will separate so as to excite no notice 
or suspicions,” directed Dave. ^^Let each one 
of us find out all he can, and report at this 
spot in three hours.” 

^‘In three hours be it,” nodded Stoodles, 
looking very businesslike. 

‘‘All right,” assented Bob, taking another 
good look at the picture of the pilot’s 
house. 

Dave allowed his two friends to select their 
own course. Then, when they were out of 
sight, he took an independent route. 

He surmised that the pilot would probably 
live near the water’s edge. In this he found 
his calculations correct, and an hour’s search 
brought some results. 

“That is the house,” spoke Dave finally, 
peering from a clump of thick high bushes. 
“Yes, there is the very bench the pilot and 
Schmitt-Schmitt sat on when Mr. Adair took 
their picture.” 

Before Dave lay a ground plot of consider- 
able extent and fairly smothered in luxurious 
vegetation, sloping down to the beach. In its 


84 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


center was a lone hut, open and rambling, and 
having a broad porch that ran clear around it. 

It was a typical tropical habitation of the 
poorer class. No one seemed stirring about 
the place except far back in the rear. Here 
there was a thick plantation of high resinous 
bushes. One man was feeding these into a 
rude grinding mill operated by a big lazy 
mule treading in a circle. 

Dave stood quietly in his place of conceal- 
ment for fully half an hour. The man drove 
his mule away. The place seemed now en- 
tirely deserted. However, just Dave was 
about to leave the spot someone came out on 
the front porch. 

^HFs the man. Yes, sure, it is Gerstein — 
Schmitt-Schmitt said Dave. 

Schmitt-Schmitt was dressed in a thin 
linen suit. He carried a large but light 
wicker valise. This he set down beside a 
bench, looked at his Avatch, then in the direc- 
tion of the town, and stretched himself out 
lazily in a hammock. 

^^Looks as if he was going away,” mused 
Dave, critically analyzing all the movements 
of the person he was spying on. ^‘Looks too 
as if he was expecting and waiting for some- 
body — probably the pilot.” 


A PAIR OF SCHEMERS 


35 


Dave thought out the situation and its 
possibilities for about five minutes. He de- 
cided to go back to the yawl. Then he 
realized that he would be considerably inter- 
ested in hearing what the pilot and his guest 
might say when they met. 

Schmitt-Schmitt lay with his back to Dave. 
On this account, and because of the shelter of 
many shrubs and bushes, Dave found it no 
task at all to cover the space unnoticed 
between his present hiding-place and the 
porch. 

Its floor was nearly two feet from the 
ground. Dave crawled way back under this 
open space, got pretty nearly under the ham- 
mock, and lay on his back. The porch boards 
were badly warped and splintered, and he 
could look right up at the hammock and its 
occupant. 

At the end of about ten minutes Dave heard 
footsteps coming up the graveled walk. He 
turned his eyes sideways and was gratified to 
recognize the pilot. 

‘^Whew, this is hot!’’ ejaculated the owner 
of the place, stamping heavily across the 
porch and throwing himself into a chair near 
the hammock, in which Schmitt-Schmitt now 
arose to a sitting posture. Then the speaker 


36 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


glanced in the direction of the plantation 
where Dave had noticed the treadmill. 

^^Ah/^ continued the pilot, Avith an angry 
scowl. ‘^That lazy rascal has ceased making 
the frew-frew? I will cut him half a day's 
pay.’' 

^A^es, it is hot,’’ answered his guest. Each 
of the precious tAvain had a language of his 
own, so they compromised on very broken 
English. 

^AThat you done?” asked Schmitt-Schmitt. 
The pilot chuckled and grinned from ear to 
ear. 

‘H have undone,” he said gleefully. ^^HaA^e 
I not? But the goA^ernor A\ent too far. He 
charged them prices for repairing the Sival- 
loiv the captain Avouldn’t stand, and he is 
doing his OAvn repairing.” 

^‘He is?” cried Schmitt-Schmitt, in a tone of 
alarm. ^^He is quick, smart. He Avill be off 
in twenty-four hours.” 

‘^Not at all,” declared the pilot calmly. 
^^You wish him delayed? Delay it shall be, a 
long delay. Delay after delay. Only — my 
pay must come. The governor’s too. We are 
exceeding the law for you.” 

‘^Both of you shall be rich — rich ! As soon 
as I get my fortune,” promised Schmitt- 


A PAIK OF SCHEMERS 


37 


Schmitt recklessly. ‘^Have you found out for 
me yet — do they think they have the treasure 
aboard the Sicalloivf^ 

‘^They have just found out differently, my 
spies tell me,’’ said the pilot. 

^^Then they will go right back to search 
for it,” declared Schmitt-Schmitt. know 
them — plucky fellows, all. They must be 
stopped.” 

‘^Fear not. As I told you,” interrupted the 
pilot calmly, ^ffhat end of it is easy. I hope 
your getting the treasure is as simple.” 

^‘Get these fellows out of the way, get me a 
ship, and I will show you,” said Schmitt- 
Schmitt eagerly. 

“One thing at a time, then,” Dave heard the 
pilot say next in order. “See, my friend.” 

“A brush, a little bottle of paint?” inquired 
Schmitt-Schmitt. 

Dave wTiggled and twisted his neck to get 
a focus on these two articles, which the pilot 
held up. Then the pilot leaned over and said 
something to his companion in so low a tone 
that Dave could not catch its import. 

“Capital, capital, oh, that is just famous!” 
gloated Schmitt-Schmitt. “You have found 
the man to experiment on?” 

“He will be here to-night.” 


38 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


^^And after the stuff is on?’’ 

^^Bah — a sponge and some turpentine, and 
the patient recovers.” 

‘‘Good, good!” said Schmitt-Schmitt. “Yes, 
that will indeed delay the Sivalloiv. Now, 
listen, my friend: I must not run the risk of 
being seen by any of the Swallow people.” 

“No, indeed.” 

“It would at once give them their cue — my 
escape from the Windjammers’ Island. I 
have packed m^^ valise, I will disappear for a 
few days.” 

“Excellent. You will go at once?” 

“I think so. You will remember! A blue 
light, I am sick or in danger. A red light, I 
need provisions.” 

“Signal any time from ten to twelve. I 
will be on the Avatch. If you say so I will 
start up the launch at once and take you to 
your destination.” 

“H’m,” mused Dave, as double footsteps 
sounded the length of the porch. “Some new 
mysterious trick to delay the Swallow? 
Schmitt-Schmitt going away somewhere? 
This is too interesting to miss.” 

Dave crept out from under the porch. He 
dodged in among some bushes. Peering 
thence he saw Schmitt-Schmitt leading the 


A PAIR OF SCHEMERS 


39 


way towards the beach, the pilot carrying his 
wicker satchel. 

Dave did not venture to follow them direct. 
He lined the ‘Hrew-frew^’ plantation, and at a 
clearing in it near the treadmill cut across it. 

From the grinding-mill a rude wooden 
trough extended. This was full of a sticky 
resinous mass, and the ground all round was 
spattered with the glutinous substance. 

‘^Frew-frew must be a sort of gum or oil 
they make from those stalks yonder,’’ decided 
Dave. ‘‘The mischief! it’s worse than fly 
paper.” 

Dave’s shoes stuck to broad leaves and 
lifted them bodily as he walked; they became 
tangled in vines which raised about him like 
ropes. He made an effort to get out of the 
direct zone of stickiness. 

Dave leaped over the edge of a board where 
the wooden trough ran in among tangled vines 
and plants. 

“Oh, yes !” he gasped. In an instant, as his 
feet struck a soft, giving mass, Dave knew 
he was in danger. Unconsciously he had 
landed in the center of an immense cistern — 
the storage receptacle for the frew-frew 
product. 

He tried to reach its edge but was held Jast. 


40 


ADKIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


He struggled to release his limbs but was 
pulled back and dragged down. 

Dave sank in five seconds to the neck. His 
chin went under. As he started to yell his 
mouth was submerged. With a last dip eye- 
sight was shut out and Dave sank under the 
sticky mass entirely submerged. 


CHAPTER V 


DOCTOR BARRELL^S “ACCIDENT^’ 

^^Begorra V ’ 

That was the first expressive word that 
Dave Fearless heard as he realized that he 
had been suddenly saved from death by suffo- 
cation. 

His eyes, mouth, ears, and nostrils were 
oozing with the vSticky stuff in which he had 
taken so dangerous a bath. The top of his 
head seemed coming off. Dave felt as if he 
had been scalped. 

Dave was lying on the grass and Stoodles 
was working over him, digging and dabbling 
with a handkerchief to get the youth\s eyes 
and mouth clear of the glutinous ^ffrew-frew.” 

^^Sorra a bit too soon was I,’’ said Pat, as 
Dave blinked and groaned. ‘T’ve a lock of 
your hair for a keepsake, lad! I saw you go 
into that threacherous pit, I threw a plank 
across, I grasped your topknot. It was loike 
taking a drowned cat out of glue. Sit up, if 
41 


42 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


you can’t stand up. If you let that stuff 
harden once, you’ll be stiff as a statbo.” 

Dave tried to arise. He dragged grass, 
dirt, vines, and weeds up with him. By this 
time he could breathe and see. Stoodles got 
a stick and scraped off from his clothes as 
much as he could of the adhesive mass that 
coated Dave. 

^‘Come on, lad,” directed Stoodles, grasping 
an arm of his tottering companion. ‘Ht’s a 
brickdust bath in soft soap you’ll be needing. 
Acushla ! but I stick to you like a brother.” 

Dave’s feet gathered up everything they 
came in contact with. Then, every time he 
brushed a bit of foliage, the frew-frew took off 
leaves, and he began to look green and pictur- 
esque. 

Where is Bob Vilett?” he asked, 
dunno,” answered Stoodles. do know 
it was lucky I saw you thralling the pilot and 
that rascally pawnbroker. If I hadn’t you’d 
have been a goner, Dave Fearless.” 

‘H guess I should,” responded Dave, with a 
shudder, and then a grateful look at this ec- 
centric but loyal friend. ‘‘Where have those 
two gone — did you notice, Mr. Stoodles?” 

“Only that they set off seaward in a little 
launch.” 


BOCTOK BAERELL'S ^^ACCIDENT’’ 43 


“Get me to the SwaUoiv, I have a lot to tell 
Captain Broadbeam now.’’ 

They lined the beach. A good many craft 
of various kinds were visible in the opening. 
All of them were too far distant to enable 
Dave to make out which one might contain 
the pilot and Schmitt-Schmitt. 

When they got to the place of rendezvous 
where they had left the ship’s yawl, Bob Vilett 
was discovered lying on the sand. 

“Wandered off on a wrong trail,” he re- 
ported; “wasted time and thought I was due 
here. Dave, what have you been into !” 

“Frew-frew, I believe they call it. Bob.” 

“Phew-phew I’d call it,” remarked Pat. 
“Up with the jibboom and across the briny, 
Bob. If we don’t get our friend Fearless into 
hot water and soap soon, we’ll have to chip off 
his coat of mail with chisels.” 

When they reached the Sioallotv they found 
the steamer the center of vast bustle and in- 
dustry. Captain Broadbeam had keeled the 
craft and gangs of men were working inside 
and outside to repair the breaks in the hull. 

The cabins and forecastle were accessible, 
but Mike Conners had temporarily removed 
cooking headquarters to a tent at the side of 
the creek. Stoodles sought out Mr. Drake, the 


44 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


boatswain, and explained Dave’s dilemma. 
They rigged up a canvas bathroom on shore 
and supplied it with brushes, two tubs of 
boiling suds, and plenty of soap. 

It took Dave over an hour to get off the 
worst of the villainous frew-frew. His hair 
was the hardest to clean. Finally he em- 
erged, fresh and tingling in every nerve from 
the vigorous bath. 

They had supper ashore and hammocks 
were rigged up under the trees. Captain 
Broadbeam set a guard about camp and ship. 
About half the crew decided to quit and he 
paid them off. They and curious visitors 
from the town were warned to keep away from 
the Swalloio. 

About dusk Captain Broadbeam had given 
out all necessary orders for the night. 

^Well, lad,” he said, coming up to Dave and 
placing his hand on the youth’s shoulder in 
his usually friendly way, undei stand you 
have something important to tell me.” 

‘^Yes, considerable,” answered Dave. 

‘^All right. The others interested must 
hear it, too. We’ll hold a council of war in 
my cabin.” 

Dave’s father. Doctor Barrell, Stoodles, and 
Bob Vilett were invited to accompany the 


DOCTOR DARRELL’S ^^ACCIDENT” 45 


captain and Dave to the Swallow, The six of 
them soon found themselves seated in the cap- 
tain’s cabin. It slanted slightly from the 
present awkward position of the ship, but 
they managed to adjust the stools and settees 
comfortably. 

^‘Now then, lad,” spoke Captain Broadbeam 
to Dave, ^^my old friend here, your father, has 
intimated to me that you have discovered 
some things of general interest to all of us.” 

‘‘I think I have,” said Dave. 

^^Then fire away, my hearty.” 

Dave began his story with a narration of 
the visit to the Swallow of the young artist 
Adair. He followed this up with his dis- 
covery of Schmitt-Schmitt, and his overhear- 
ing of the conversation between that worthjc 
and the treacherous native pilot. 

Captain Broadbeam was interested from 
the first ; when it became apparent from 
Dave’s clear, logical story that the stolen 
treasure was still somewhere in the vicinity of 
the Windjammers’ Island, the old tar’s eyes 
glistened and he looked eager and excited. 
Then, as Dave told of the evident existence of 
a plot to delay, possibly destroy, the Swallow, 
Captain Broadbeam sprang to his feet. 

‘‘Delay me, will they?” he shouted, growing 


46 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


red of face and blazing with anger. ^^Why, 
the miserable scum! if they so much as hang 
around here I’ll fill them with a charge of 
pepper and salt. If I catch them up to any 
tricks aboard, I’ll swing them from the yard- 
arm.” 

The doughty old mariner paced the cabin in 
a fine rage. When he had subsided Dave ap- 
proached the subject nearest his thoughts. 

“Captain,” he began, “from what I have 
told don’t you really think my theories are 
right as to the treasure being hidden?” 

“I do, lad, I’ll admit that,” growled the 
captain. 

“And that this fellow Schmitt-Schmitt is 
an emissary of the Hankers and the Raven, 
looking for a ship to go after the treasure?” 

“Mebbe, lad, mebbe.” 

“Then what is the matter with hurrying up 
your repairs and getting back to the Wind- 
jammers’ Island before Schmitt-Schmitt? 
Don’t you see, captain, we are bound to locate 
the Raven crew, if they are there?” 

Captain Broadbeara sank to a stool, bent 
his head, and groaned. 

“Lad,” he said, “I know what you want to 
do and what I’d like to do. It can’t be done — 
no, no,” 


DOCTOR BARRELUS ^^ACCIDENT” 47 


^^Captain/’ interrupted Amos Fearless, in 
an eager, quivering tone, ‘^ve are old 
friends ” 

“Belay there !” roared the veteran tar, 
springing to his feet and waving his ponder- 
ous arms like windmills. “Would ye tempt a 
man from his duty Avho has never yet over- 
stepped discipline? That duty is plain, Amos 
Fearless. This here Swalloiv was sent out to 
collect curiosities for the United States Gov- 
ernment. Those curiosities are duly col- 
lected. Incidentally I helped you fellows all 
I could on the side. Now it's San Francisco. 
Them’s my sailing orders. There’s my duty.” 

“Ochone !” groaned Pat Stoodles, “and 
phwat of the foine treasure?” 

“I’m out of this hornets’ nest here the 
minute the Swallotv is seaAvorthy,” announced 
Broadbeam. “The minute I land at San 
Francisco and get my clearance, ITl hark back 
to the Windjammers with you if I have to 
put all my savings into chartering a ship 
specially.” 

“It will be too late then, captain,” mur- 
mured Dave, in a dejected tone. 

“Sorry,” said the commander of the Swal- 
loiv, “I am responsible to the owners. Why, 
friends, if I should step outside of my duty I 


48 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


am personally liable to a fine that would make 
me a ruined man and a pauper.” 

Dave gave a queer start at this, a quick 
color came into his cheek, a quick flicker into 
his eyes. He gazed at Stoodles in an eager, 
speculative way. 

^^One moment, captain, please,” he said, 
arising and beckoning Stoodles to follow him 
from the cabin, ‘H have just thought of some- 
thing important. I hope you will not decide 
finally on this matter until I have had a word 
in private with Mr. Stoodles.” 

^‘Surely not, lad,” nodded the captain, but 
in some wonder regarding this peculiar move 
on the part of the young fellow he had grown 
to like greatly. 

Silence fell over the little coterie in the 
cabin then. They could hear the low hum of 
voices outside ; Dave talking rapidly and 
earnestly, and such violent ejaculations from 
Stoodles now and then as ^^Begorra!” ^‘Luk 
at that now!” ^‘Bedad!” and the like. 

When Dave came back into the cabin he 
was calm and collected, but Stoodles squirmed 
about with a wise, important look on his 
moonlike face. 

‘^Captain Broadbeam,” said Dave, have 
just consulted with Mr. Stoodles on a matter 


DOCTOR BAERELL’S ^^ACCIDENT” 49 


covering his ability to raise a certain sum of 
money.” 

The captain of the Sicallow grinned. It 
was so ridiculous to think of Stoodles ever 
earning or saving a penny that he could not 
well help it. 

^‘Yes,” announced Pat gravely, ^^by my royal 
authority as king of the Windjammers’ Isl- 
and.” 

^^Nonsense,” niuttered Captain Broadbeam. 

‘Wou will take my word for it, captain, 
won’t you?” insinuated Dave, in his smooth, 
convincing way. can say to you positively 
that if you will land Mr. Stoodles among his 
former subjects for a single hour, and later 
safely at San Francisco, he will be prepared 
to pay you five thousand dollars to meet any 
fines the owners of the Swallow may assess 
you for going back there.” 

^Why, Dave,” began Mr. Fearless in won- 
derment — but Bob Vilett interrupted. 

^^If Dave says five thousand dollars, he 
means five thousand dollars.” 

‘^Remarkable!” commented Doctor Barrell, 
surveying Dave in astonishment through his 
eyeglasses close-set. 

Captain Broadbeam w^as impressed. He 
studied Dave and Stoodles speculatively. 


60 


ADRIFT 0 ^ THE PACIFIC 


^^How can you possibly get that sum of 
money?’’ he demanded. 

‘^We can,” declared Dave positively, ^^can’t 
we, Mr. Stoodles?” 

^^Begorra! and ten if we nade it!” cried 
Pat enthusiastically. ^^Oh, the broth of a 
boy! It takes my friend Dave Fearless for 
brains.” 

^^Of course it is a secret,” said Dave. 

deadly saycret — I mane a close one,” de- 
clared Stoodles. never knew how rich I 
was till the lad told me just now.” 

‘‘Oh, pshaw !” exclaimed Captain Broad- 
beam, dismissing the matter with a worried 
motion of his hand. “Money can’t count in 
this case. My duty is plain ! I was ordered to 
sail for the home port as soon as the govern- 
ment collection was made. Doctor Barrell 
reported a month ago that he had finished 
that collection.” 

“H’m, just so,” observed Doctor Barrell, 
“but, my dear sir — ha, a thought. A moment. 
Captain Broadbeam, just a moment.” 

“Thunder!” whistled Bob Vilett amazedly 
in his chum’s ear. “What does that mean 
now?” 

Dave shook his head in silent wonderment. 
Doctor Barrell had winked at them in a quiz- 


DOCTOR DARRELL’S ^^ACCIDENT” 61 

zical, encouraging way that was mightily sug- 
gestive. 

To have the high-class old scientist so far 
forget his dignity was a most remarkable 
thing. 

They heard Doctor Barrell stumbling about 
in the aft cabin where he had stored some of 
the curiosities he had gathered for the govern- 
ment. 

Suddenly there was a loud bump followed 
by a great clash. The next minute the doctor 
burst into the captain’s cabin holding aloft 
two cracked and broken specimens of starfish. 

‘^Captain,” he cried — ^‘bad accident! The 
collection is incomplete. See, Captain Broad- 
beam, the only specimens of the Merc ar ia steh 
laticiis we had, destroyed, case tipped over.” 

The commander of the Stvalloiv bestowed a 
searching look on the speaker, but was silent. 

^^They are to be found only at the Windjam- 
mers’ Island,” went on Doctor Barrell. ‘^Oh, 
dear, dear ! This will, I fear, necessitate a re- 
turn to the island.” 

^‘Oh, will it?” snorted the captain sarcasti- 
cally. ‘^So, you’re in the plot, too, to lure me 
from my duty, hey, you old conspirator? 
Well, you mutinous old humbug, after break- 
ing your mercurian stellians purposely, you’ll 


52 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

not get me to go a single knot back on the 
west course till you sign a paper officially or- 
dering me to do so as a necessity of the ex- 
pedition.” 

^^Pen and ink — quick,” chuckled Doctor 
Barrel!. ^^Captain,” he added pathetically, 
indicating their sturdy, loyal companions with 
a kindly affectionate wave of his hand, ‘Their 
hearts are set on that stolen treasure, rightly 
too. They are our true, good friends. Hon- 
estly, wonT you be glad to help them try and 
find it?” 

“Shiver my timbers, but you’re a set of 
conspiring mutineers !” roared the captain 
doughtily, but the fierce words were spoken 
with a secret chuckle. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE PILOT^S PLOT 

^^Hurrah shouted Bob Vilett, tossing his 
cap up in the air. 

^^Don’t crow too quickly, Bob,” warned 
Dave Fearless. ^‘We’re not out of the woods 
yet.” 

“And don’t you croak,” retorted the 
sprightly young engineer of the Swallow. 
“Captain Broadbeam says that by this time to- 
morrow we will be on our way to the Wind- 
jammers’ Island.” 

“Yes,” nodded Dave significantly, “provided 
they let us start.” 

“Eh, ’who?” demanded Bob. 

“The governor here and the pilot, Schmitt- 
Schmitt, the v hole crowd, who I am persuaded 
are in league to delay us.” 

“Oh, nonsense,” cried Bob airily. “What 
right have they to interfere wdth our busi- 
ness?” 

“What right had they to wreck the Swai- 
ns 


54 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


lowF'^ inquired Dave pertinently. don’t 
say they will dare to try to make us any 
further trouble, but they have planned to, 
that I know, and every one of us must keep 
our eyes wide open until we leave Minotaur 
Island far to the rear.” 

For all Dave’s misgivings, however, he was 
a happy, hopeful boy. It had been settled 
that they should return to the Windjammers’ 
Island to secure duplicates of the Mer curia 
steUaticus which Doctor Barrell had disposed 
of by accident. 

‘^The royal old trump!” Bob Vilett had en- 
thused. ‘‘Good-by to that treasure if the doc- 
tor hadn’t acted so promptly. But I say, 
Dave, what was that bluff you and Stoodles 
Avorked up about five thousand dollars?” 

“No bluff at all, as you call it,” declared 
Dave seriously. “A hint from that artist 
Adair gave me a fine suggestion. Stoodles 
can easily make five, ten, yes, maybe twenty 
thousand dollars if he has a chance to once 
more, even for a single hour, regain his posi- 
tion as king of the Windjammers.” 

“If I didn’t know you so well, Dave Fear- 
less,” said Bob gravely, “I!d say you was 
romancing.” 

“Wait till you see the reality. Bob,” advised' 


THE PILOT’S PLOT 


55 


Dave, with a confident smile. “By the way, 
about this same secret of Stoodles’ — 1 
must make some purchases in the town to- 
day.” 

Just after noon, in pursuance with this sug- 
gestion, Dave Avas rowed to the town by the 
boatswain and two others of the crew of the 
Swallow. 

When he returned he carried two heavy 
boxes, storing them safely under lock and key 
in the purser’s own closet. 

The inquisitive Bob tried to pump Stoodles, 
but it was of no avail. Pat looked crafty and 
wise, and only muttered some remarks about 
his royal prerogative and the like. 

By sundown the Steal low had been com- 
pletely repaired. She was righted and 
cleaned up, and everything put in order for a 
run to Mercury Island. Captain Broadbeam 
decided to provision up there. He was un- 
easy every minute he dallied among the tricky 
inhabitants of Minotaur Island. 

They were short-handed as to a crew, on 
account of the desertions of the day previous. 
Several natives had applied for work, but the 
captain was distrustful of them as spies. 

The second mate had several times gone to 
the main harbor port in search of English sail- 


56 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


ors, but there chanced to be none unemployed 
just then. He did manage, however, to pick 
up one recruit. This was a sickly-looking 
white man who called himself Tompkins. He 
was quiet and industrious, and wanted to go 
as far as Mercury Island, he said to the cap- 
tain, who entered him regularly on the crew^s 
list. 

There had been a great ado that afternoon 
over maps, charts, and other details pertain- 
ing to a long cruise. Captain Broadbeam had 
engaged Dave in conversation several times 
about his discoveries and theories. 

Both the captain and Amos Fearless now 
believed that Dave had reasoned out matters 
concerning the stolen treasure just as they 
existed in fact. 

They could not hope to gain any specific in- 
formation from Schmitt- Schmitt, even if they 
learned where he was now keeping himself in 
seclusion. 

Captain Broadbeam had concluded, 
^Ve won’t stir up affairs any further here- 
abouts. We will let the people here believe 
that we are going home to the United States. 
Schmitt- Schmitt never dreams that we know 
of his living here. His suspicions will be al- 
layed, We shall leave a clear field and prob- 


THE PlLOrS PLOT 


57 


ably get to the Windjammers’ Island before 
he even finds a ship to go in search of the 
treasure.” 

The camp on shore was now broken up and 
its temporary equipment moved back to the 
Swallotr. The work on the steamer was all 
in shipshape order by supper time. The men 
had labored diligently, and the captain or- 
dered an extra-fine meal. 

It was an hour of typical comfort. A brisk 
breeze had cooled the air, the sky was bright 
and clear, the surroundings picturesque and 
beautiful. 

Some of the sailors were singing a jaunty 
rollicking sea ditty. Dave and Bob paced the 
after-deck full of their plans for the prospect- 
ive voyage to begin on the morrow. 

‘^This is certainly life as she is on the ocean 
wave,” declared Bob enthusiastically. 

love the smell of the brine. Bob,” said 
Dave. “I was born breathing it, and now the 
seafaring life seems to be a regular business 
proposition with me.” 

^‘Good business, if you recover all that 
money,” observed Bob. 

‘‘Look there. Bob,” spoke Dave suddenly. 

His companion turned. Facing the coast 
end of the creek a gruesome-looking craft with 


58 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


black funnels, and odd and awkward of shape, 
was hovering about the mouth of the little in- 
let. 

^^Hello,” exclaimed Bob, “thaPs the govern- 
ment ironclad. What^s she doing here?^^ 

‘‘Yes,” nodded Dave, taking up a telescope 
and looking through it, “that’s the Chili, the 
governor’s special warship, sure. They say 
she’s a poor apology of a craft. Bought her 
second-hand from some English shipyard. 
They are putting off a yawl.” 

“Going to visit us?” inquired Bob. 

“It looks that way.” 

“More trouble?” insinuated Bob. 

“More meddling and spying, more like,” 
said Dave. 

Both boj^s watched a natty, well-manned 
yawl come spinning up the creek towards the 
Swallow. 

The Chilian colors adorned the bow, indicat- 
ing an official visit. A man in military dress 
directed the boat. Beside him sat another of 
the governor’s aides in semi-official uniform. 

Dave called Captain Broadbeam, and all 
hand^ on board the Sivallow were now in- 
terested in the approaching yawl. 

“Colonel Jos^ Silverado, from his excellency 
the governor,” announced the officer in charge 


THE PILOrS PLOT 59 

of the yawl as he neared the side of the 
steamer. 

^‘Coming aboard?’^ asked Broadbeam, in his 
blunt, gruff way. 

^^On duty, yes,’^ responded the officer, very 
politely, but with a covert grin. ^‘The gov- 
ernor’s physician — Dr. Monterey,” added the 
officer, indicating his companion. 

Captain Broadbeam bowed brusquely, and 
with surly and suspicious mien awaited the 
further pleasure of the governor’s envoy. 

The officer glanced keenly all about the 
ship. Then he took a card from his pocket 
and scanned it. 

‘‘Sorry to trouble you, captain,” he said, 
“but we have reason to believe that you have a 
refugee aboard your ship.” 

“A refugee?” repeated Broadbeam, with a 
start. “Who is he?” 

“Man named Tompkins.” 

“Why, yes,” admitted the captain, “we have 
a new man here by that name.” 

“Will you kindly summon him? We have 
business with him. That is the man, doctor?” 
inquired the officer, as the sickly-looking fel- 
low emploj^ed by the Sivalloiv that morning 
slipped out from among the crew at a call 
from Captain Broadbeam. 


60 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^^Ah, yes,” nodded the governor’s physician, 
eying Tompkins critically. “My man, you 
are making us a whole heap of trouble, it 
seems.” 

Tompkins looked confused and ill at ease, 
gazing surlily at the deck. 

“What’s the matter with him?” demanded 
the captain. 

“Suspect,” announced the officer quickly. 
“Came in on a fruit boat a few days ago. Boat 
infected, and this man and the others put in 
quarantine. lie got away. Look him over, 
doctor.” 

Monterey stepped up to Tompkins. He ex- 
amined his pulse and his tongue and tapped 
him on the chest. Then he said tersely: 

“Strip.” 

Tompkins pulled off his shirt. As his 
naked back came into view several of the crew 
curiously regarding the scene uttered quick, 
startled exclamations. 

Across the chest, shoulders, and arms of the 
suspect, the refugee, wore half-a-hundred pur- 
ple-black blotches. 

“Spotted fever,” said the governor’s physi- 
cian, stepping back as if his task was done and 
over Avith. 

“Tut! tut! Too bad,” observed Silverado. 


THE PILOT’S PLOT 61 

^^Captain, I regret to say that this is a quaran- 
tine case.” 

‘‘Eh? Oh, just so,” responded Broadbeam. 
“Well, take him to the pesthouse, then.” 

The officer shook his head slowly. 

“Gone too far for that,” he said. “He has 
probably infected the others. Let no man 
leave the ship,” he called out loudly to some of 
the crew who were moving away in the haste 
of fright. “I declare this ship in a state of 
quarantine,” pursued Silverado, in a tone of 
command, producing a document bearing an 
official red seal. “We will send you a yellow 
flag, captain, and you will remain here subject 
to official orders.” 

“Quarantined?” cried the captain, bris- 
tling up. “And for spotted fever? See here, 
colonel, we have a skilled physician on board. 
We will move out to sea at once and take our 
own risk on this matter.” 

“Impossible,” dissented Silverado, smiling 
sweetly, but with the latent malice of triumph 
in his undertone. “Law of the nations — no 
right to imperil the general safety. No, 
within two weeks w^e will give you clearance 
if no new cases break out. Meantime ” 

The officer coolly affixed the sealed docu- 
ment in his hand to the mainmast. 


62 


ADRIFT ON- THE PACIFIC 


Captain Broadbeam wriggled, fumed, 
groaned. He was too thorough a seaman to 
mistake his predicament. His brow grew 
dark and threatening. 

‘‘Bob, quick, come here.’’ 

With a violent jerk Dave Fearless pulled 
his startled chum to one side. 

“Quick as you can,” he spoke rapidly, “rush 
to the purser. Tell him to instantly send me 
up a rag that has been well saturated in tur- 
pentine.” 

“Why, Dave ” 

“No questions, no delay,” ordered Dave 
peremptorily. 

Bob shot away on his mission, Dave set his 
teeth, breathing hard. In a flash a sinister 
suspicion had arisen in his mind. Like light- 
ning memory flew back to the overheard inter- 
view on the porch of the native pilot between 
that crafty individual and the tricky Schmitt- 
Schmitt. 

“He said he could delay the Swallow, he 
liinted at spots, some paint, at washing them 
off,” mused Dave. “Good for you. Hold 
on.” 

Dave snatched the rag soaked with turpen- 
tine from Bob Vilett’s hands. He ran for- 
ward now to where his friends were de- 


THE PILOT^S PLOT 


63 


pressedly watching Tompkins arranging his 
shirt to replace it. 

Dave made a dash at the man. He held him 
firmly by one shoulder. With his free hand 
he slapped the rag briskly over his bare flesh 
to and fro. 

Dave’s eyes sparkled immediately with the 
intensest satisfaction. One by one the dark 
spots on the back of Tompkins began to dis- 
appear. 

‘^Captain Broadbeam,” cried Dave, pulling 
the squirming Tompkins around into full 
view, ‘^a paint-trick. This man has got no 
more spotted fever than I have myself.” 


CHAPTER VII 


THE MYSTERIOUS JAR 

Dave Fearless had saved the day. The 
young ocean diver knew this the moment he 
glanced at the faces of those about him. 

The wretch Tompkins shrank and cowered 
in a guilty manner. The squeamish crew 
looked relieved. The governor’s physician 
and his military companion affected a pro- 
found astonishment, but secretly were over- 
whelmed with confusion and chagrin. 

Captain Broadbeam’s eyes opened wide in 
amazement at the first. Then as he guessed 
it out that a plot against him had been at- 
tempted they blazed with wrath. 

^Tut that man in irons,” he roared out. 

*Tardon, captain,” interrupted Silverado, 
stepping forward, “we will do that. There is 
some grave mistake here.” 

“Mistake?” shouted Broadbeam. “Villainy, 
a conspiracy. Why ” 


64 


THE MYSTERIOUS JAR 


65 


^The governor will investigate this matter 
thoroughly/’ said Silverado. 

Dave had glided to the captain’s side. In a 
quick undertone he advised him to smother his 
wrath for policy’s sake. They allowed their 
visitors to hustle Tompkins into their boat. 
To the last Silverado wore a suave mask of 
forced politeness. 

^^You vile scum,” broke out Broadbeam, 
shaking his fist after the departing yawl. 
^Ht’s hard to keep the bit between my teeth 
and say nothing when I know that all hands 
from the governor down are in this dirty 
plot.” 

The old salt bestowed an approving look 
on Dave and hustled to the forecastle, calling 
the crew around him. 

^^Dave, how did you ever come to think of 
it?” marveled Bob Vilett. 

‘^Why, it was simple — putting two and two 
together. I remembered the pilot’s talk about 
paint,” replied Dave. ‘Hlear that! Captain 
Broadbeam is on his mettle.” 

Both boys listened to the sonorous voice of 
the commander of the Swalloiv, He was 
greatly aroused. They heard him give orders 
to have the entire armament of the Swalloto 
put in active commission. A stand of rifles 


66 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


was to be set ready for use. To Mr. Drake was 
delegated the task of furbishing up two old 
brass ten-pounders from the hold. 

^‘We sail to-morrow,” announced the cap- 
tain. ^^Look out for tricks to-night. These 
villains won’t let us go without meddling 
further if they can help it. My men, I ask 
you all to stand by me if there’s a scrimmage, 
and there will be one if those fellows try to 
block my way.” 

Dave came in for a good deal of attention 
from the captain, Doctor Barrell, and his 
father, when affairs had quieted down some- 
what. They all realized that his good memory 
and shrewd forethought had saved them a 
vexatious delay and no end of further trouble 
from the treacherous governor and his co- 
horts. 

will be glad when we get clear of the 
island to-morrow,” said Dave, as Bob turned 
in for the night. 

It had been a busy, exciting day, and Dave 
was glad to have a few moments to himself to 
think over affairs in general. 

He stretched himself on a heap of canvas in 
the shadow of the rear cabin, overlooking the 
creek and the beautiful moonlit expanse 
stretching out beyond it. 


THE MYSTERIOUS JAR 


67 


Dave mused, dozed, woke up, and stretched 
himself. He heard the night-watch laughing 
and talking in low tones amidships. 

‘HTl join them, listen to pne or two of their 
wild yarns, and then turn in for the night my- 
self,^’ he decided. 

Half-arising, however, Dave came to a rigid 
pose. He stared hard beyond the rail and 
down into the still waters of the creek. 

Everything was so calm and still that the 
least sound or movement was vividly distinct 
to ear and eye. 

Dave^s eye had detected a ripple in the quiet 
Avaters. Then momentarily a human head 
had protruded into view. 

It bobbed doAvn under Avater again. It 
came up ten feet nearer to the Swallow. It 
disappeared once more, and this seemed to 
carry it past the watcher’s direct range of 
vision. 

^^Someone, and up to something,” declared 
Dave to himself. ^^Hark, now.” 

He bent his ear keenly. A soft drip-drip 
sounded just beyond the rail. Then a black 
hand glistening with AA^ater clutched the rail 
itself. 

Slowly, cautiously the body of a dusky 
native, attired only in SAvimming garb, came 


68 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


into view. This was the person Dave had de- 
tected swimming under water. 

Straddling the rail, the intruder crouched, 
looking all about the deck. Then he lifted 
both feet over onto the planking. 

Dave now noticed that the man carried un- 
der one arm quite a bulky package done up in 
black oilskin. 

The intruder glanced sharply at the fore- 
castle. Just abutting it was a box-like sec- 
tion into which all kinds of odds and ends of 
canvas and ropes were bundled. Its door was 
half-ajar. Dave saw the stranger glide to 
this, thrust his package inside, glide back to 
the rail, slip over it, and drop into the 
water. 

A minute later the ripples in the creek 
showed where the fellow was making his re- 
treat under water. His head came up to the 
surface once or twice. Then he arose at a dis- 
tance down the stream and disappeared among 
the dense shrubbery lining the creek. 

^^More mischief,” instantly decided Dave 
Fearless. 

Dave made a rush for the forecastle cubby 
hole. He pulled its door wide open and 
groped about. His fingers closed about a 
dripping object there. 


THE MYSTERIOUS JAR 


69 


^Hlard and heavy,” said Dave. ^‘Wrapped 
in the oilskin to protect it. What can it be?” 

Dave arose to his feet. Suddenly a thrill 
passed through his frame. 

^Tut here for a purpose,” he thought. ^^Can 
it be an explosive !” 

Internally Dave became immensely excited. 
Coolly, however, though carrying the dubious 
object as though it were an egg, he proceeded 
to the ship’s rail nearest the shore. 

Dave set the object gently on the rail, 
climbed over, took it up again, and, holding it 
above his head in one hand, dropped into the 
water. 

The splash, slight as it Avas, aroused the 
AA^atch. Tavo men came hurrying to the rail. 

^^Hold on, there,” challenged one of them. 

‘Ht’s only me — Dave Fearless,” came the re- 
tort promptly, ^^cooling off — a little swim, 
that’s all.” 

“You pick a fine time for it.” 

Dave laughed. He liked water, and swam 
Avith one hand, came ashore, and went past its 
fringe of brush to a clearing. 

“Now then,” said Dave, Avith a great sigh of 
relief, at a safe distance from the ship, “burst, 
if you want to !” 

Dave had set the object he carried doAvn on 


ADRIFT 0 ^ THE PACIFIC 


10 

the ground. He stepped back a few fe«t and 
surveyed it suspiciously. 

bomb?’^ he questioned himself. ‘‘How 
am I going to find out? Perhaps iPs some in- 
fernal machine loaded with phosphorus. Then 
those villains intended to burn the Swallow. 
Certainly this means some black mischief.’’ 

Dave roamed about till he found a stout 
long reed. Then he began to poke at the ob- 
ject he had brought from the ship. He finally 
managed to remove its oilskin covering. 

“It’s a jar, a stone jar,” he said, “queer and 
foreign-looking, like we get snuff or preserved 
ginger in. Labeled, too, and seals across the 
top. It don’t look very dangerous, for all the 
sinister way it came aboard.” 

Dave did not belie his name. He dallied 
with the situation no longer and now took up 
the jar fearlessly. 

Its label resembled the covering used on a 
package of firecrackers. The seal w^as of tin- 
foil stamped with similar characters in 
red. 

“Chinese, that’s sure,” thought Dave. 
“Shall I risk it?” he questioned himself, his 
fingers surrounding the jar cover. 

Dave snapped the seal and removed the 
cover. A layer of tissue paper showed. He 


THE MYSTERIOUS JAR 


11 


pulled this out. A dense stench was emitted ' 
by the jar. He poked his finger down into the 
contents. They were solid^and sticky. 

‘‘Why,” said Dave, a good deal puzzled, j 
sniffing vigorously, “iUs opium.” 


CHAPTER VIII 


OUTWITTING AN ENEMY 

Dave Fearless stood looking over the queer 
jar and its contents very thoughtfully. 

‘‘Well,” he declared at length, “this is a 
puzzle.” 

Under ordinary circumstances Dave might 
have supposed that some sailor addicted to the 
use of opium had hired some emissary to 
smuggle some of the drug aboard ship. 

This, however, did not look rational in the 
present case. In the first place the contents 
'of the jar represented over a yeaFs pay of the 
average sailor. In the next place it was too 
jeasy to get it aboard by ordinary methods to 
occasion all this mystery. 

Of course Dave at once decided that the 
placing of the opium in the forecastle cubby- 
lole was part and parcel of the same plot that 
lad nearly wrecked the StmlloWj that later 
lust that day had developed the unsuccessful 
•attempt at quarantining the steamer. 

72 


OUTWITTING AN ENEMY 


73 


What’s the motive in this latest trick?’* 
mused Dave. ^^Aha !” he exclaimed suddenly, 
‘‘have I guessed it right?” 

A quick suspicion, a prompt suggestion 
came to Dave’s mind. He was speedy to act. j 

“I think I’ve struck the clew,” he said — “'J 
think I’m acting right in this matter.” 

Dave, carrying the jar with him, wandered' 
about till he found a decayed tree stump. Hfi 
emptied the opium into a hole in the wood an{>^ 
covered it over with bark. 

Dave scraped the jar and made a little baU 
of the leavings, a sample of the stuff he might 
need for later experience and evidence. 

This he did up in a piece of paper, shoving 
it in a safe pocket. He washed out the jar 
thoroughly. Then he wandered about study- 
ing the branches of various trees under which 
he passed. Several of these Dave ascendecl 
like a boy bird’s-nesting. 

He was quite a long time in one tree-top. 
When he descended to the ground he had the* 
cover firmly attached to the jar, which hci 
carried as if extremely careful of its contents. 

“If I am guessing things out right,” said 
Dave, with a kind of satisfied chuckle, “I thin! ' 
we shall give our enemies quite a novel sur|- 
prise.” 


ADEIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


14 


Dave swam back to the steamer. Arrived 
on deck he placed the jar just where he 
had originally found it. Then he went to 
bed. 


He overslept himself next morning. The 
^ship was a scene of bustle and activity. When 
’^e came up on deck, every member of the crew 
^'proper was busy, even Bob Vilett. 
i So Dave found no opportunity to make a 
(confidant of his special chum, even had that 
'been his desire or intention. 

At nine o’clock Captain Broadbeam an- 
jnounced that all was ready for their de- 
parture, and ordered steam up. 

Within thirty minutes of getting under 
way the boatswain hurried from the bow to 
where the captain was standing amidships. 

‘^Coming again, sir,” he announced, touch- 
ing the peak of his cap respectfully. 

Who’s coming?” demanded Broadbeam. 
‘^Those buzzards — same gang in the long- 
1 i)oat that was here last night.” 

‘^Humph !” growled the captain, gazing 
jtormily at a yawl just rounded from open 
Vater into the mouth of the creek. 

The approaching craft was directed by the 
] dausible Silverado. Smiling as ever he came 
c m board, three men with him. 


OUTWITTING AN ENEMY V5 

his excellency the governor/’ he 

said. 

‘‘Yes, yes,” answered Captain Broadbeam 
crossly; “I know all that rigmarole. What 
do you want?” 

“A complaint, captain.” 

“Who from?” 

“I do not know.” 

“What about?” 

“Contraband goods — smuggling.” 

Captain Broadbeam laughed in the officer’s 
face outright. 

“Guess not,” he said. “I reckon, my friend, 
about all we will take away from Minotaur 
Island will be a mighty poor opinion of its in- 
habitants.” 

“Oh, I trust not,” the polite official hastened 
to say, but added tersely: “We must make a 
search.” 

“What for?” 

“I have told you — contraband goods. We 
are having a good deal of trouble in this line. 
Ships touching here make the island a sort of 
clearing house for dutiable imports and ex- 
ports. Our governor’s high sense of honor de- 
mands extreme vigilance and discipline. We 
are authorized to make a search.” 

“Search away,” cried Broadbeam indif- 


76 ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

ferently, but with some show of mental irrita- 
tion. 

Silverado and his aids went into the hold. 
They made a great pretense of looking through 
the lockers in the cabins. 

‘‘Well?’’ demanded the captain of the Swal- 
low as they came on deck again, “found any 
smuggled goods?” 

“None,” reported Silverado promptly — 
“none, I am pleased to say.” 

“Then you give us a clean sheet on health 
and cargo, do you?” said Broadbeam. “Rea- 
son I ask, is that Ave are going to swing out of 
harbor soon as you get through with your 
tomfoolery.” 

Just here one of the officer’s assistants came 
up and whispered in the ear of his superior. 
He pointed at the forecastle. 

“Yes, yes,” nodded Silverado, “take a look 
there, and be thorough.” 

“Getting warm!” chuckled Dave to himself 
— “the precious hypocrites !” 

The man went into the forecastle and came 
out again. He looked into the water barrel. 
He lifted some box covers. Just as Dave 
guessed he Avould do, he kept up all this wise 
pretense until he landed up against the fore- 
castle cubby-hole. 


OUTWITTING AN ENEMY 


11 

have found >something,’’ he announced, 
after groping in the hole. He had brought 
forth the stone jar. 

‘‘Ah, what is this?” spoke the officer. “Cap- 
tain,” he added, assuming great sudden 
gravity as he inspected the jar, “this looks 
pretty serious.” 

“Well, what’s the mare’s nest now?” petu- 
lantly demanded Broadbeam. 

The officer held up the jar in plain view. 

“It is what we expected 'to find,” he an- 
nounced severely. “It is opium. We know 
that last week a tramp steamer landed a lot of 
the stuff on the island. The labels show that 
this is part of the same contraband cargo. I 
declare this package and the Sioallow under 
confiscation, and arrest you. You must come 
to the governor.” 

“Oh, that so?” slowly spoke Captain Broad- 
beam, his shoulders hunching dangerously. 
“I never saw that jar before, and, shiver my 
timbers !” roared the incensed old captain, 
shaking his fist vigorously under Silverado’s 
nose, “I don’t know the stuff is opium.” 

“Oh, yes, captain,” insisted the officer. 
“The labels are unmistakable. Look for your- 
self. Ough I” 

With smart-Aleck readiness the suave 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


V8 

Silverado untwisted the jar cover. With a 
sharp cry he dropped it. In a cloud, a stream, 
there instantly darted out from the receptacle 
an angry procession of hornets. 

They lit on those nearest to the jar, the 
officer and his assistants. One of his aides 
was a special target. The poor fellow ran to 
the side to escape them. He set up renewed 
yells as they stuck, pestered, and stung. Then, 
splash! he took a reckless header into the 
waters of the creek to escape his pertinacious 
tormentors. 

Silverado lost all his usual calm dignity 
trying to evade the little pests. He bit his 
lips and scowled as the captain faced him with 
a loud derisive guffaw. 

‘^Here, take away your contraband goods 
with you,’^ shouted Broadbeam, dropping jar 
and cover into the yawl, as the official hastily 
descended into it, a crestfallen look on his 
face. ‘^Ready, there,’’ he added to the boat- 
swain. “Steam up.” 

“Aye, aye, sir.” 

Captain Broadbeam stepped to the little 
pilot house. He touched an electric but- 
ton. 

Dave watched the maneuver with a glowing 
face. He was full of the successful guess he 


OUTWITTING AN ENEMY 


79 


had made concerning the planted opium, but 
he did not try to explain that just then. 

The jar of the starting steam below com- 
municated a vibrating thrill to his nerves. 
Dave ran up to Amos Fearless as the veteran 
diver crossed the deck. 

^^Good news, father V’ cried Dave gayly. 
^^WeH'e started.’’ 

^‘Hey and hallo for me paternal dominions — 
once more for the Windjammers’ Island and 
the stolen tlireasure!” shouted Pat Stoodles, 
cutting a caper. 

‘^Will we find it, I wonder?” sighed the old 
diver thoughtfully. 

think we shall, father,” answered Dave 
Fearless, with confidence. 


I 


CHAPTER IX 


A BOLD PROJECT 

The Sicallov^ cleared her moorings in the 
creek on Minotaur Island, and steamed out 
into the broad waters of the bay, a thing of 
life and beauty. 

^^And what^s that for now?^’ asked Pat 
Stoodles of Dave, who was watching their 
progress and the coastline with great interest. 

see,’’ nodded Dave. ‘‘You mean the long- 
boat from the governor?” 

“That same, lad. Luk at ’em, now. Ever 
since we came into open wather they’ve been 
tearing along for the town like mad. Aha, 
there goes one of those measly marines over- 
board.” 

Dave ran for a telescope. He viewed the 
government boat with a good deal of curiosity. 

The official, Silverado, stood up in the stern 
gesticulating with energy, and evidently incit- 
ing his men to their best efforts at the oars. 

80 


A BOLD PEOJECT 81 

a Lurry to reach town, it seems, mut- 
tered Pat. 

“In a tremendous hurry,” said Dave. “So 
much so, that one of the men lias leaped over- 
board, waded ashore, and is making a lickety- 
switch run across lots for the town.” 

Dave went at once to Captain Broadbeam 
and apprized him of the maneuvers of their 
recent visitors. 

“That’s all right, lad,” chuckled the old 
mariner. “Let ’em squirm. We’re safe out 
of their clutches.” 

“Not so safe,” spoke Dave to his father, 
half an hour later. “Look there.” 

The officer Silverado had seemingly got 
word to the governor of the departure of the 
Swallotv, A few minutes after the longboat 
had disappeared around a neck of land, the 
ironclad gunboat hove into view. 

She was a saucy, spiteful little craft and a 
fast runner. She was headed direct for the 
wallow. 

“Are they coming for us, captain?” inquired 
Amos Fearless, somewhat anxiously. 

“I hope not, for their own sakes,” muttered 
Broadbeam quickly. Then he shouted some 
orders down the tube and the ^icallow made a 
spurt. 


82 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^^Running away?’^ said Pat Stoodles. 
^‘Shure, if I was in command I’d sthand and 
give her one or two good welts.” 

“Captain Broadbeam knows his business, 
Mr. Stoodles,” declared Dave; “you can al- 
ways count on that.” 

Far out in the bay were a group of sandbars 
and several small wooded islands. The ^icah 
low was headed for the largest of these islets. 
The gunboat swung a challenge signal to 
which the Swallow made no reply. 

•Then, just as the steamer, pursuant to her 
captain’s orders, began to slow up, the iron- 
clad fired a gun. 

“Give them their walking papers, Mr. 
Drake,” rang out Broadbeam to the boatswain. 

The latter ran up a signal flag. This signi- 
fied that the Swalloio announced herself two- 
and-one-half miles from shore, and therefore 
out of the jurisdiction of Minotaur Island, 
claiming the freedom of neutral waters. 

“That’ll hold her for a while,” gloated 
Stoodles. “Aha ! ye’ll have to take back 
wather now.” 

The gunboat reminded Dave of some spite- 
ful being cheated out of its prey. She circled, 
spit steam, and went more slowly back to port. 

Captain Broadbeam now ordered the Steal- 


A BOLD PROJECT 


83 


low just without the shoal line of a big sandy 
island they had neared. Here they came to 
anchor. 

Bob Vilett came up on deck reeking with 
the steam and grease of the engine room. 

^^What^s the programme, Bob?’’ asked Dave. 

^‘Captain says we are going to stop here and 
take on ballast.” 

‘T^''or how long?” 

^‘Till to-morrow, I reckon. I say, Dave, 
you’ve got your heart’s desire, eh?” 

am the happiest boy living,” answered 
the young diver. ‘^Something tells me we are 
going to get and enjoy that treasure after all 
mishaps and disappointments.” 

In order to repair the Swallow in the creek, 
the ballast had been taken out and the con- 
tents of the hold generally shifted about. 

Now the captain set his men at work to take 
on new sand ballast from the island and get 
things in the hold in regular order. 

A pulley cable Avas run ashore. Dave and 
Bob Avere the first to take an aerial spin along 
this, dangling from the big iron kettle that 
ran doAvn the incline. 

Dave had told Captain Broadbeam and the 
others of his agency in the matter of substitut- 
ing the hornets for the opium. The recital 


84 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


had made the captain good-natured, and he 
had given the boys permission to rove over the 
sand island at will for the day. 

Dave and Bob put in a pleasant hour or two 
talking, fishing, and discussing the probable 
adventures that would greet them when they 
again visited the Windjammers’ Island. 

At about five o’clock in the afternoon the 
work of securing ballast was completed. The 
captain then announced that there was some 
work still to do in the hold. They would make 
their real start with daylight. 

Dave and Bob were taking a la^t swim in 
the cool of the day. A clear sky and a fine 
breeze made the exercise delightful. Finally 
they got daring one another. Dave swam to 
the little sand islet next to the large one. Bob 
beat him in a race to the third of the group. 

^‘Come on, if you’ve got the nerve,” hailed 
Dave, making a quarter-mile dash for a sand 
mound still beyond them. 

Bob started, but turned back. Dave made 
port and threw himself on the dry sand to 
rest. He got back his breath and sat up ready 
to take the home course, when his eye was at- 
tracted to something on an island about a fur- 
long beyond the one he was on. 

This was the nearest of the wooded islands. 


A BOLD PROJECT 


85 


Dave had not noticed it much before. What 
made him notice it now was that, half-hidden 
in a great growth of bushes and. vines, he 
noticed a small log hut. 

In front of this a mast ran up into the air. 
At the moment that Dave looked he saw a man 
fumbling at the lines along this mast. It was 
to raise a blue bunting. 

^‘Hello, hello,” murmured Dave slowly, star- 
ing hard and thinking desperately fast. 
^^Why, that’s easy to guess. That man is 
Schmitt-Schmitt.” 

Dave could not precisely recognize the man 
at such a distance, but felt sure that it was 
Schmitt-Schmitt. He thought this the more 
positively as he saw that piece of blue bunting 
run up the mast. 

‘‘That was one of the signals I heard 
Schmitt-Schmitt tell the pilot about,” mused 
Dave. “Red for provisions, blue for sickness 
or help wanted. Lantern at night, bunting 
by day. That’s it, sure. He is signaling the 
pilot. That island is Schmitt-Schmitt’s place 
of hiding. Say,, here’s something to think 
about.” 

Dave did not stay long to think about it. 
His eyes brightened and he seemed moved by 
some inspiriting idea as he jumped into the 


86 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


water and was soon back in the company of 
his chum, Bob Vi let t. 

Dave was quite silent and meditative till 
they had reached the big sandy island. Ar- 
rived there, he slowly dressed himself. 

‘‘Come on, Ihn hungry as a bear — donT 
want to miss a good supper, Dave,^’ hailed 
Bob, starting for the Swallow, 

“Hold on!” challenged Dave. “I want to 
tell you something before we go aboard.” 

“Fire away,” directed Bob. 

“Can you manage to get off duty about 
dusk?” 

“There’s nothing for me to do till we steam 
up again,” replied Bob. “Why?” 

“Can we get one of the small boats for an 
hour or two, do you think?” 

Bob shook his head negatively. 

“Heard the captain shut down on the chance 
of anybody sneaking to town and making more 
trouble. No, it can’t be done, unless the cap- 
tain gives special orders. Why?” pressed 
Bob curiously. 

“I don’t want to tell the captain what I am 
up to till I accomplish something,” explained 
Dave. “I’ll tell you, though, for you’ve got 
to help me.” 

“All right, Dave,” piped Bob readily. 


A BOLD PROJECT 87 

must rig up some kind of a craft to 
reach the. first wooded island.’’ 

^‘What for?” 

“Schmitt-Schmitt is in hiding there.” 

‘^Aha, I see !” cried Bob excitedly. 

‘‘I propose,” said Dave deliberately, ^‘that 
we visit him, capture him, and bring on board 
the Swalloic — as a prisoner — the only man 
probably who can guide us straight to that 
stolen treasure.” 

^^Famous!” cried Bob Vilett enthusiasti- 
cally — ‘^but can we do it?” 

^‘Let’s try it, anyhow,” answered Dave Fear- 
less. 


CHAPTER X 


THE WOODED ISLAND 

Captain Broadbeam gave pretty strict or- 
ders at dusk. A watch was set with direc- 
tions to allow no one to leave the Sivallow, 
All the small boats were chained stoutly. 

‘^We’ll have to defer going ashore, or report 
our plans to the captain,’’ said Bob Vilett 
about eiglit o’clock, coming up on deck with a 
wry face. He was in overalls and his hands 
covered with oil. “No go, Dave,” he reported. 

“You mean you can’t join me?” asked Dave, 
in disappointment. 

“That’s it, Dave. There’s work till twelve. 
I’ve got to stay. Say, why don’t you tell the 
captain your idea and have him send men and 
a boat after Schmitt-Schmitt?” 

“No,” said Dave, “Captain Broadbeam 
wouldn’t entertain the project for a moment. 
He is a first-class captain, but hint at any- 
thing outside of his ship, and he won’t take 
the risk.” 


88 


THE WOODED ISLAND 


89 


^AYliat are yon going to do, then?’’ 

‘^Try it alone.” 

“Be careful, Dave. Don’t undertake too 
much. You can never manage Schmitt-Schmitt 
alone. Why don’t you impress Stoodles into 
service?” 

“Mr. Stoodles is willing enough,” answered 
Dave, “but he might bungle. It will be all I 
can do to get off the Sicallotv alone.” 

Dave managed this, however, a little later, 
without discovery. Once on the sand flat, he 
dragged some planks and ropes the ballast 
crew had left there to the other side of the 
island. Dave constructed quite a raft and 
pushed it into the water. Swimming, he pro- 
pelled it before him. Within half an hour he 
was on the wooded island. 

The flrst thing that caught his eye was a 
blue light strung from a tree at the end of the 
island nearer the town. Here there was a 
favorable natural landing-place. 

“The bunting signal didn’t attract atten- 
tion,” reasoned Dave, “so Schmitt-Schmitt has 
tried the lantern. Wonder if he is at the hut? 
I’ll work my way around that direction and 
find out.” 

Dave had the bold idea in mind of capturing 
this man. As he went along he thought of 


00 


ADRIFT ON THE FACIFIC 


plan after plan. If lie could get Sclimitt* 
Schmitt helpless in his power, he could con- 
vey him to the Sicalloiv on the raft. 

^‘The very thing, said Dave gladly, as he 
neared the vicinity of the hut. Lying across 
the top of some bushes was a fishing net. It 
had long rope ends. Dave with his pocket 
knife cut these off and thrust them in his 
pocket. 

‘^Hey, what are you up to there?” 

Dave thrilled at the sharp call, and turned 
quickly to face his challenger. 

It was Schmitt-Schmitt. He had abruptly 
emerged from the greenery surrounding the 
hut. He carried a big cudgel, and as the clear 
moonlight revealed the face of the intruder 
plainly he uttered a quick gasp. 

“Ha, I know you!” cried Schmitt-Schmitt, 
advancing with a scowling face. 

“It seems so,” answered Dave coolly, cau- 
tiously retreating. “You are Mr. Gerstein.” 

“No, you donT!” spoke the man, with a 
speedy leap forward. 

Dave dodged, but not soon enough. The 
cudgel came down directly on top of his head. 
He saw stars, sank flat, and knew no more for 
fully five minutes. 

Then, his lower limbs wound round and 


THE WOODED ISLx\ND 91 

round with ropes, he struggled upon the floor 
of a hut. 

At a table on which burned a candle sat 
Schmitt-Schmitt. He had just opened a bot- 
tle of lime juice and was about to pour some 
of its contents into a glass to refresh himself. 

He suspended operations, however, as Dave 
struggled to an upright position, attracting 
his attention. 

^AVell,’’ he spoke with a coarse chuckle, 
‘^how did that wallop suit you?’’ 

Dave rubbed his sore head and made a wry 
grimace. 

“You donT treat visitors very politely, do 
you?” he said. 

“You’re a spy, you are,” spoke Gerstein sul- 
lenly, “and don’t you deny it. I know you. 
Now then, what brought you here?” 

“What brought you?” retorted Dave. 

“Don’t you get saucy,” warned Schmitt- 
Schmitt. “All along you did the big things 
that were done in baffling the Hankers. I 
hear, too, you have been pretty smart with 
your tricks since you came to Minotaur 
Island.” 

“Of course I’ve been trying to do all I could 
to protect my rights,” said Dave. “I knew 
you were in hiding here.” 


92 


ADEIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


^^Ha! eh?’^ exclaimed Schmitt-Sclimitl, 

pricking up his ears. ^‘How did you kuow 
thatr 

^^Oh, we have kept track of you/’ ansTvered 
Dave lightly. ‘‘As soon as we found you were 
back of the governor and the pilot in bother- 
ing us, we naturally watched jmu.” 

Schmitt- Schmitt stared in stupefaction at 
Dave. 

“Knew it, did you?” he muttered. 

“Of course we did. We knew what you 
were up to. Now I can tell you, Mr. Ger stein, 
you will never get that treasure away from the 
Windjammers’ Island, no matter how hard 
you try.” 

“Treasure! The Windjammers’ Island!” 
gasped the man. “How — when — where — the — 
the treasure was lost at sea.” 

“Not a bit of it, as you and I both know,” 
asserted Dave blithely, reading in the con- 
fusion and excitement of tlie man a confirma- 
tion of his suspicions. “I say the Swalloio, 
with or without me, sails in search of that 
treasure at daylight. Come, sir, you have 
gone in with a measly crowd who will only rob 
you in the end. Come to Captain Broadbeam, 
save us the trouble of a long search, and my 
father will pay you all right.” 


THE WOODED ISLAND 


03 


Sclimitt-Schmilt got up and paced the floor. 
He seemed thinking over a\ hat Dave had sug- 
gested. His face, however, gradually resumed 
its customary ferocity and cunning. 

he said finally, striking the table with 
his fist and taking in his captive’s helpless 
situation with a good deal of satisfaction. ‘H 
have the upper hand. I keep it.” 

‘^What upper hand?” asked Dave. 

‘‘You are my prisoner. Soon the pilot will 
be here in response to my signal with his 
launch. I will take you to the island with 
me. I will hide you. They will not get along 
so grandly without you. They will delay to 
search for you, and delay is all I ask. Yes, 
3'es, that is the programme.” 

Some whistles from craft in the bay echoed 
out. Schmitt-Schmitt went outside, appar- 
ently to see if some answer was coming to his 
signal. 

“I am in it — deep,” mused Dave. “Pshaw! 
I hate to think I shall delay and bother Cap- 
tain Broadbeam.” 

Dave found that the ropes securing him 
were not very tightly arranged. They had 
been drawn to a loop about his waist and 
caught with snap and hook behind. 

“If I had time I could work loose,” he 


04 ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 

tliouglit. ‘H have not time, so I suppose I 
must wait meekly and take what comes to me. 
Oh, by the way — that’s an idea I” 

The ‘Tdea’^ in question was suggested by a 
glance at the bottle and glass on the table. 
Dave’s eyes sparkled. He fumbled under the 
ropes and brought out wrapped up in a frag- 
ment of paper the sample of opium he had 
discovered the night previous. 

Frog-like he began hitching himself across 
the floor. Dave kept his eye anxiously fixed 
on the open doorway. He got to the table, 
reached up, dropped some grains of the drug 
into the glass there, and nimbly as he 
could hitched his way back to his former 
position. 

Two minutes later Schmitt-Schmitt re- 
appeared. He went at once to the table, 
poured out a drink, settled back in his chair, 
and said complacently : 

‘‘My friend will soon be here. Do your 
friends also know I am here?” 

“Oh, dear, you mustn’t expect me to tell any 
secrets to a fellow who won’t join in with us,” 
said Dave. 

“Maybe after a little solitude you will be 
willing to talk,” observed Schmitt-Schmitt 
meaningly. 


THE WOODED ISLAND 


95 


^^All right — we’ll see/’ said Dave, with af- 
fected unconcern. 

Dave’s eyes sparkled as Schmitt- Schmitt 
began to blink. He was delighted as the man 
fell back drowsily in the chair. 

‘^Now’s my chance/’ said Dave, as a pro- 
longed snore announced the complete subjuga- 
tion of Schmitt-Schmitt to the influence of the 
drug. 

Dave did some brisk moving about. He 
managed to get to a cupboard. He could not 
reach his own pocket knife. In the cupboard 
he found a case knife and set at work sawing 
away the ropes that bound him. 

He laughed at his rare success, as stretching 
his cramped limbs he went outside for a mo- 
ment. 

don’t want to delay,” he thought. ‘‘That 
signal may bring the pilot at any moment, and 
that means two to handle instead of one. 
This is just famous. Better than I planned 
out. How shall I get Schmitt-Schmitt to the 
raft?” 

Dave found an old wicker mattress on the 
rude porch of the hut. It had rope ends to 
attach as a hammock. He took the precau- 
tion to tie Schmitt- Schmitt’s wrists and ankles 
together with ropes. 


96 


ADRIFT Oi^ THE PACIFIC 


Then Dave dragged the insensible man from 
his chair across the floor and let him down flat 
on the wicker mattress. 

It required all his strength to pull this drag 
and its burden the two hundred feet required 
down the beach. 

^‘The mischief!'’ cried Dave, as, panting, he 
reached the spot where he had left the rudely 
improvised raft. 

It was nowhere in siglit, and he readily sur- 
mised that he had carelessly left it too near 
the surf, which had carried it away. 

^^Whatever am I to do now?” thought Dave. 
‘H can’t swim to the Swallow with this man. 
I must find the material for a new raft. 
Pshaw ! there’s a call to time.” 

Dave glanced keenly seawards. Then with 
due haste he dragged mattress and burden 
back into the brush out of sight. 

Peering thence, he watched a little launch 
making for the wooded island at the point 
where the blue signal shone. 

^^The pilot, of course,” said Dave. ^‘He has 
come to see his friend. What will he do when 
he fails to find him?” 

With some anxiety Dave Fearless watched 
the little launch come nearer and nearer to 
the wooded island. 


CHAPTEE XI 


A RACE FOR LIFE 

^^YeS;, it is the pilot/’ said Dave to himself, 
as the launch drove directly into the little 
natural landing-place where the blue lantern 
swung. 

Dave peered from his bushy covert and 
closely watched the maneuvers of its oc- 
cupant. 

The pilot ran the nose of the craft well into 
the sand, shut off the power, and leaped 
ashore. 

Dave saw him take up a basket and watched 
him depart for the hut. As soon as some 
trees shut him out from view Dave leaped on 
board of the launch. 

A momentary inspection of the operating 
lever and steering gear told Dave that he 
could easily navigate the boat. 

must lose no time,” he thought. ^^My 
only chance of getting away with Schmitt- 
Schmitt is in taking the launch.” 

97 


98 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Dave forthwith dragged his unconscious 
captive to the launch. It was no easy task to 
get that bulky individual aboard. Dave ac- 
complished it, however, and then paused to 
catch his breath and wipe the perspiration 
from his face. 

‘‘Hi! hi! hir 

A ringing yell, or rather three of them, ut- 
tered in rapid and startling succession, made 
Dave turn with a shock. 

Looking down the beach, he saw the pilot 
running towards him at full speed. The lat- 
ter had evidently visited the hut, had found it 
vacated, and coming out to look for his miss- 
ing friend, had discovered the launch in the 
hands of a stranger. 

Dave made no reply. He sprang to the lit- 
tle lever, reversing it, and the launch slid 
promptly back into the water. Swinging the 
steering gear south, Dave turned on full 
power. 

“Stop. ITl shoot — stop! stop!’’ panted the 
pilot, gaining on Dave with prodigious bounds 
of speed. 

Dave kept his hand on the lever, his eyes 
fixed ahead. Suddenly 

Bang — ping! a shot whistled past his ear. 
Dave crouched and darted a quick glance back- 


A RACE FOR LIFE 


99 


ward. The pilot, coming to a standstill, was 
firing at him from a revolver. 

Dave sa^v a point of refuge ahead. This 
was a broken irregular wooded stretch, well- 
nigh impassable on foot. As a second shot 
sounded out, Dave curved around this point of 
land. 

He was now out of view of the pilot, who 
would find great difficulty in crossing the 
stretch lying between them, as it w^as marshy 
in spots. Dave lined the shore farther on, 
feeling pretty proud of the success of his 
single-handed enterprise. 

^^Why,” he mused, ^Sve have the game in our 
ow n hands completely now^ I w^onder what 
father and Captain Broadbeam wdll say to all 
this. Of course they w on’t fancy such a guest 
as Schmitt-Schmitt, but they must see how 
holding him a harmless captive helps our 
plans.” 

Dave made a sw^eep w ith the launch to edge 
the rounding end of the island. Here it nar- 
row^ed to about two hundred feet. It w^ould 
now be a straight bolt past the same islets to 
where the wallow was. 

“Won’t do — the gunboat, sure as shingles !” 
spoke Dave suddenly. 

Almost directly in his course, and bearing 


100 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


down upon him, was the ironclad. In that 
clear moonlight everything was plain as in 
daylight. Dave could see the people on board 
the gunboat, and they could see him — without 
doubt. 

In fact, someone in uniform leaned over the 
bow of the ironclad in his direction. Dave 
caught an indistinct hail. He paid no atten- 
tion to it. 

He acted with the precipitancy of a school 
fugitive running away from a truant officer. 
He saw just one chance to evade an unpleas- 
ant overhauling by the ironclad, and took it. 

This was to instantly steer to the north and 
shoot down the narrow neck of water lying be- 
tween the wooded island and the nearest sand 
island. 

Dave knew that this channel must be quite 
shallow. He doubted if the cumbersome iron- 
clad could navigate it. Even if it tried to, it 
would be some minutes before its crew could 
swing around into position to make the 
chase. 

The launch took the channel like an arrow. 
Dave’s spirits rose high, notwithstanding some 
loud and quite peremptory hails from the 
direction of the gunboat. 

^^Better than before,” soliloquized Dave. 


A EACE FOE LIFE 


101 


can SAving around the sandbars directly to the 
anchorage of the Swallow.^^ 

Glancing back, Dave saAv that the gunboat 
did not intend to follow the course he had 
taken. That craft had stopped and put 
about. 

^^They must suspect that something’s not 
exactly right,” calculated Dave. ^‘The mis- 
chief — that was close. Ouch ! I’m hit.” 

Dave went keeling over from the bow seat. 
Very suddenly, from some bushes on the 
wooded island, there were two sharp flashes 
and reports. One bullet whizzed past his 
head, the second plowed a furrow across his 
forearm. It was not deep, but the wound 
bled, and the surprise and shock sent Dave 
over backwards. 

The worst of it Avas that he jerked the lever, 
and this, turning the launch, sent its nose 
directly into shore, and there the boat stuck, 
vibrating with the impact of the still Avorking 
machinery. The pilot instantly ran from 
cover towards the boat, flourishing the weapon 
in his hand. He had crossed the island, 
it seemed, to head oft the launch, and it looked 
as though Dave was doomed to disaster in his 
present enterprise. 

Dave scrambled to get back to the lever, and 


1055 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


reverse the launch. As he did so his hand 
touched something lying upon straps at the 
side of the seat pit. 

It was a rifle. Dave seized it, jerked it and 
its fastenings free, and extended it directly at 
the running figure ashore. 

^^Get back,’’ he shouted. ‘^Drop that pistol, 
Mr. Pilot, or there will be trouble.” 

The pilot, with a howl of rage, halted short. 
He flung the revolver down. Dave guessed 
that it was now empty. 

As Dave touched the lever and got out into 
the channel again, he saw the pilot running 
back along the beach. He was headed for the 
end of the island in the direction of the iron- 
clad, and yelling out some information to 
those aboard at the top of his bellowing voice. 

‘‘Now for a spurt,” said Dave. 

The channel was about a mile long. Dave 
came to its end in fine spirits. It was a clear 
run now past the two outer sand islands, and 
a half-mile turn would bring him to the 
Stvallow. 

He proceeded more leisurely now, for it did 
not seem possible that the ironclad could 
make the opposite circuit in time to head him 
off. Where the sand hills dropped, however, 
Dave had a view across the two next islands. 


A KACE FOR LIFE 


103 


^‘They are after me,” he exclaimed. ^^The 
pilot has advised them of the real state of af- 
fairs, and it^s a sharp run. Full power — 
go!” 

Dave had made out the gunboat whizzing 
down the channel between the two outer sand 
islands. She was forcing full speed. It was 
a question whether the gunboat would not 
emerge first into the open sea and block his 
course. 

Dave put on power that made the little 
launch strain and quiver from stem to stern. 
He w^as terribly excited and anxious. His 
breath came in quick jerks, his heart beat 
fast. 

^‘Close shave,” he panted, ^^but IVe made 
it.” 

Two hundred feet down the channel was the 
gunboat, as Dave crossed her outlet. The 
ironclad swung out after him not one minute 
later. 

The launch fairly skimmed the water. The 
ironclad loomed portentously near, but Dave 
felt that, no mishap occurring, he would win 
the race. 

“TheyVe got me, I guess,” he gasped a 
second later. 

A flash, a loud boom, and a terrific concus- 


104 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


sion plunged Dave into a condition of extreme 
confusion and uncertainty. 

The ironclad had fired a shot. It had 
struck the stern of the launch, splintering it 
clear open. A great shower of water deluged 
Dave and his insensible captive. 

Dave regarded the damage done with grave 
dismay — the stern had sunk and the launch 
was now on a slant. 

In fact, the rear portion of the boat was un- 
der water to the rail. 

Only by keeping up power could the launch 
be prevented from filling and going down. 
Dave never let go his grasp on the lever. He 
held firmly to the last notch in the indi- 
cator. 

As he turned the end of the last sand island, 
the maneuver made the launch wabble. Just 
here a second gun was fired from the ironclad. 
The shot went far wide of its intended mark, 
but a vital alarm urged Dave to change his 
course. 

The launch went sideways, and a sudden in- 
rush of water sunk her to the middle. Dave 
headed for shore. There the launch struck, a 
wreck. 

Down the shore lay the Swallow. Active 
lights were bobbing about her deck, so Dave 


A RACE FOR LIFE 105 

knew that the crew had been aroused by the 
firing at sea. 

His first thought was to get Schmitt- 
Schmitt out of the half -submerged launch. 
He dragged his captive to the beach, then he 
took a look at the gunboat. 

^^Why/’ exclaimed Dave, in mingled aston- 
ishment and satisfaction, ‘^she’s grounded.” 

Apparently the ironclad had struck some 
treacherous sandbar over which the light swift 
launch had glided in safety. Loud orders, 
quick bells, and whistles made a small babel 
aboard the craft in distress. 

Dave glanced down calculatingly at his 
helpless captive. He must get him to the 
Stvalloic, But how? 

The pit crate of the launch had floated up 
as the craft filled with water. Dave waded to 
it, pulled it ashore, and rolled Schmitt- 
Schmitt across it. 

He was now quite hidden from the view of 
those aboard of the gunboat, but he feared 
they might send a yawl on an investigating ex- 
pedition. 

Dave swam, pushing the crate before him. 
Often he glanced back. There was no pur- 
suit. More hopefully and nearer and nearer 
he approached the Sivalloiv, With a kind of 


106 


ADEIFT ON THE rx\CIFIC 


a faint cheer Dave hailed her as he came 
within hearing distance. 

‘‘Ahoy, there!-’ rang back Captain Broad- 
beam’s foghorn voice, as he gazed down at 
crate, burden, and swimmer. 

“It’s me — Dave Fearless,” began the latter. 

“Bet it is! Had to have a rumpus, eh? 
What was the shooting? Lower away there, 
men. Two of you, eh? What! that rascally 
pawnbroker, Gerstein!” fairly yelled the cap- 
tain, as by stages Dave and his captive came 
nearer, were helped by the crew, and now 
gained the deck of the Sivallow. 

“Yes, Captain Broadbeam,” nodded the 
nearly exhausted Dave. “The gunboat — after 
us — suggest you get away — at once — excuse — 
weak and dizzy ” 

And just then Dave Fearless sank flat to the 
deck of the Steal low, overcome completely 
after the hardest work he had ever done in his 
life. 


CHAPTER XII 


OVERBOARD 

‘^What does he say, Captain Broadbeam?” 
asked Dave Fearless. 

^^Mum as an oyster, lad.” 

‘Won’t talk, eh?” remarked Dave’s father. 
“Nothing come of giving him free board, and 
after all the trouble you had, Dave, in getting 
him onto the Swallow y 

“You forget, father,” reminded Dave, “it is 
one enemy the less to worry about.” 

“The lad’s right,” declared Captain Broad- 
beam. “It means a good deal to clip the wings 
of the main mover in this scheme against us. 
If Gerstein, or Schmitt-Schmitt as he calls 
himself, won’t do us any good, at least he can 
do us no harm as long as we hold him a pris- 
oner. I reckon those fellows back at Minotaur 
Island are a little dazed at the slick way we 
disappeared, — ship, their crony, and all.” 

Bob Vilett, seated in the cabin with the 
others, laughed heartily. 

107 


108 


ADKIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


‘Ht was a big move and a good one, that of 
yours in capturing this rascal,” he declared to 
Dave. ^‘Now we certainly have the field to 
ourselves. The governor and the pilot can’t 
follow us, for they don’t know where we have 
gone. No one is on this treasure search 
except ourselves. It’s a clear field, as I 
say.” 

‘%^ntil we reach the Windjammers’ Island,” 
suggested Dave. wouldn’t wonder if Ger- 
stein had left Captain Nesik and the others 
there, probably guarding the treasure while 
awaiting his return.” 

The Swallow had got away from the vicinity 
of Minotaur Island two days previous. Just 
as soon as, after his exciting capture of Ger- 
stein, Dave had sufficiently recovered to ex- 
plain matters to Captain Broadbeam, the lat- 
ter had ordered on full steam, leaving the iron- 
clad stuck on the sandbar. 

Gerstein raved like a madman when the 
drug Dave had given him began to lose its 
effect. He threatened all kinds of things — the 
law, for one, for kidnapping — but Captain 
Broadbeam only laughed at him. 

‘Must one word, my hearty,” he observed 
spicily. “As long as you behave yourself, out- 
side of every man aboard having his eye on 


OVEEBOARD 


loD 

you to look out for tricks, you'll have bed and 
food with the best of us. Try any didos, 
though, and I clap you into irons — under- 
stand?’^ 

Gerstein became at once sullen and silent. 
When he came on deck after that he spoke to 
nobody. Most of the time he remained shut 
up by himself in the little cabin apportioned 
to him. 

The second day out Captain Broadbeam 
sought an interview with him. It was after a 
talk with Amos Fearless. 

He offered Gerstein a liberal share of the 
treasure if he would divulge its whereabouts 
and tell what had become of the Raven and 
her crew. 

Gerstein declined to say a word. He simply 
regarded the captain in a mocking, insolent 
w^ay. It w^as evident that the fellow^ appre- 
ciated the full value of his know ledge concern-^ 
ing the treasure. 

^^He’s counting on getting aw^ay from us 
somehow, before the cruise is over,” reported 
Captain Broadbeam to his friends, “or he is 
taking chances on our running into a nest of 
his friends when w’e reach the Windjammers’ 
Island.” 

The Swallow had a delightful run to Mer- 


110 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


cury Island. Before they reached it Gerstein 
was placed in the hold, and there closely 
guarded by two mariners until they had pro- 
visioned up and were once more on their 
way. 

Dave had little to do except to wait the end 
of their cruise, yet he put in some busy hours. 
For three days he kept Stoodles at his side at 
the table in the captain^s cabin, questioning 
him on every detail about the lay and outlines 
of the island they were sailing to. Then he 
made a chart of the island, and as near as 
possible from memory marked in the other isl- 
and where they had recovered possession of 
the Swallow after it had been stranded during 
a cyclone. 

The weather changed suddenly a day or two 
out from Mercury Island. They rode into a 
tierce northeaster, and it rained nearly all the 
time, with leaden skies and a choppy sea. 

Dave was a good deal below. One after- 
noon, returning from a brief visit to Bob 
Vilett, as he was making for the cabin passage- 
way, a chink of light attracted his attention. 

It emanated from a crack in the paneling of 
the cabin occupied by Gerstein. Dave drew 
nearer to the chink, and could look quite 
clearly into the compartment that housed the 


OVERBOARD 


111 


person in whom he was naturally very much 
interested at all times. 

said Dave, with a bright flicker in 
his eye. ^‘He’s making a chart, too, is he?” 

The daylight was so dim that Gerstein had 
a lighted candle on the table at which he sat. 
Spread out before him was a sheet of heavy 
manila paper. It bore black outlines as if an 
irregular body of land, and had crosses and 
dots all over it. 

At this Gerstein was working, thoughtfully 
scanning it at times and then making addi- 
tions to it. Dave believed that it had some- 
thing to do with the treasure. 

^^Our treasure,” he reflected, “and ITl play 
something else than the spy if I get a chance 
to look over that chart, Tvhatever it is.” 

He watched the man^s movements for over 
half an hour. Then Gerstein folded up the 
paper, placing it in a thin tin tobacco box. 
This he secured in a pocket in the blue shirt 
he wore, buttoning the pocket flap securely. 

Dave got no further sight of the mysterious 
paiier, if such it was, during the next week. 
He felt himself justified in trying to get a 
chance to secure the little tin box. Twice he 
visited Gerstein^s cabin secretly, while its oc- 
cupant was on deck. Gerstein, however, ap- 


112 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

parently carried the box with him wherever 
he went. 

One night, when he slept, Dave crept into 
the cabin, the door of which for a wonder had 
been left unlocked. He ransacked Gerstein^s 
clothing, but with no result. 

^‘Got it somewhere in bed with him,^^ thought 
Dave. don’t dare to try and find it, though. 
I would surely wake him up. I believe I will 
tell Captain Broadbeam about the little tin 
box. If it in any way concerns this treasure, 
why haven’t we the right to take it away from 
Gerstein, even by force?” 

Before Dave had an opportunity to consult 
with Captain Broadbeam, however, something 
transpired that changed all his plans. 

It was a dark and stormy night. The 
weather had been rough all day. Dave came 
on deck about eight o’clock to find the captain 
on duty. A few men were making things tidy 
about the stern deck. 

The SicaUow was plowing the water, slanted 
like a swordfisli in action. DaA^e held to a 
handle at the side of the cabin, peering into 
the darkness that hung about them like a pall. 

According to the calculations of the captain 
they were somewhere in the vicinity of the 
Windjammers’ Island — probably within fifty 


OVERBOARD 113 

miles of it, he had told Amos Fearless at 
sunset. 

As Dave stood there, braced and exhilarated 
by the dash of wind and spray, he saw Ger- 
stein suddenly rush up the cabin stairs. 

‘^Hello, what^s up with him, I wonder,’’ 
thought Dave. 

The remark was caused by a view of the face 
of the fellow as he passed a lantern set near 
the forecastle. Gerstein seemed frightfully 
agitated. Heedless of the slippery deck, he 
plunged along towards the stern. Once or 
twice a lurch threatened to bring him clear 
over the rail and into the sea. 

Dave could not resist following him to learn 
the cause of his perturbation. A swing of the 
boat sent him clinging to the rail. Holding 
firmly, Dave, within twelve feet of the stern, 
saw Gerstein dash in among the men busy 
there and heard him shout out : 

“Barlow — quick. Is he here?” 

“Here I am,” answered the owner of that 
name, looking around from his task of lashing 
down the cover of a water butt. 

“My shirt — ^your shirt — the one you loaned 
me while I had mine washed,” spoke Gerstein, 
in an anxious, gasping tone. “I gave it back 
to you this afternoon.” 


114 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^^Yes, you did,’’ nodded Barlow. 

“Where is it? Have you it on — say, 
quick !” 

“Threw it under my bunk. In the fore- 
castle. Bunk nearest the gangway. Hey, 
you’ve no sea legs, that’s sure.” 

A lurch of the steamer had sent Gerstein off 
his footing. He went headlong. His head 
struck the side, and for a second he lay 
stunned. 

Before he had fairly got to his feet, Dave 
Fearless had acted under the impulse of a 
very vivid suggestion. 

From what he had seen and heard he felt 
certain that Gerstein wanted the shirt he had 
borrowed because he had left something in his 
pocket. 

“That tin box. I’ll bet — why not?” cried 
Dave, making a dash in the direction of the 
forecastle. 

Dave was so full of his idea that he did not 
take the trouble to look back to see if Gerstein 
was coming, too. He got to the forecastle, 
was down the gangway fast as he could go, 
and a second later was groping under Barlow’s 
bunk. 

“Here it is,” he said, pulling out the gar- 
ment in question. “Something in the pocket, 


OVERBOAED 


115 


too, yes, ifs the box — the little tin box, I can 
tell by the feeling. Good!^’ 

Dave hurried back up the steps. He just 
cleared them as Gerstein plunged rather than 
ran towards them. A steady light shone 
here. 

“Say,” bolted out Gerstein, at once recogniz- 
ing the garment in Dave’s hand, “that’s my 
shirt.” 

“No, it isn’t,” declared Dave, swinging back 
as Gerstein made a grab at the garment. “It 
belongs to Barlow.” 

“I have something in it.” 

“I know you have.” 

“Ha, you spy ! Let go, let go.” 

The result of a general mixing up of Dave 
and Gerstein was that each now had hold of 
the coveted garment. 

As Gerstein spoke last he sagged and swung 
Dave around to one side. 

Dave held on tightl3^ Suddenly Gerstein 
made a feint. He slackened the tension by a 
bend forward, one hand swung out. 

Dave received a heavy blow at the side of 
the head. It was totally unexpected, and 
he loosed his grip and went reeling back- 
ward. 

At that moment a terrific wave swept over 


116 ADRIFT OJ^ THE PACIFIC 

the deck. Dave was submerged and carried 
along. 

He tried in vain to catch at something. The 
tilt of the steamer sent him shooting outward, 
and the next moment he plunged over the rail 
into the sea below. 


CHAPTER XIII 


ADRIFT ON' THE PACIFIC 

The sea had been the natural element of 
Dave Fearless since his earliest childhood. 
In the stress of his present predicament, how- 
ever, he felt that he was in the most critical 
situation of his life. 

A great wave received him as he went over- 
board. A second swept over it, ingulfing him 
for a full half-minute, and he was battling 
desperately with the vortex caused in part by 
the storm, in part by the swiftly-moving 
steamer. 

As the youth emerged into less furious ele- 
ments, his first thought was of the Swallow. 
He dashed the water from his eyes with one 
hand and strained his sight. 

^^IFs no use,^’ he spoke. ^^She’ll be out of 
reach in two minutes.’’ 

Dave did not try to shout. It would have 
done him no good, he realized. As he w^as 
lifted up on the crest of wave after wave, the 
117 


118 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


vague spark of light that designated the 8wal- 
loiv grew fainter and farther away. Finally 
it was shut out from view altogether. 

The water was buoyant, and aided by his ex- 
pertness as a swimmer Dave did not sink at 
all, and found little difficulty in keeping 
afloat. But how long could this state of things 
last? he asked himself. 

There was not the least possible hope of any 
aid from the Swalloio. He had gone overboard 
unseen by any person except Gerstein. 

‘^He will tell no one,’’ reflected Dave. “In 
the first place it would be dangerous for him 
to do so, for they would suspect treachery on 
his part. In the next place he is probably 
glad to get rid of me. Unless Bob or father 
look into my stateroom, I shall not be missed 
before morning. By that time ” 

Dave halted all conjecture there. The 
present was too vital to waste in idle surmises. 
He planned to use all the skill and endurance 
he possessed to keep afloat. He might do this 
for some hours, he calculated, unless the 
waves grew much rougher. 

“It’s a hard-looking prospect,” Dave told 
himself, as he began to feel severely the strain 
of his situation. “Adrift on the Pacific ! How 
far from land? As I know, the Sicalloiv’s 



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ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


119 


course was out of the regular ocean track. 
The chances of ever seeing father and the 
others again are very slim.’^ 

Something slightly grazed Dave’s arm as he 
concluded this rather mournful soliloquy. He 
grabbed out at the touch of the foreign object, 
but missed it. Then a second like object 
floated against his chest. This the lad seized. 

It proved to be a piece of wood, part of a 
dead tree, about three inches in diameter and 
two feet long. Dave retained the fragment, 
although scarcely with the idea of using it as 
a float. 

To his surprise these fragments, some large, 
some small, continued to pass him. In fact, 
he seemed in a sort of wave-channel, which 
caught and confined them, forming a species 
of tidal trough. 

One piece was of quite formidable size. 
Dave threw his arms over it with a good deal 
of satisfaction, for it sustained his weight 
perfectly. 

“Queer how I happened right into their 
midst. Where do they come from, anyhow?” 
reflected Dave. “Is it a hopeful sign of 
land?” 

There was a lull in the tempest finally, but 
the darkness still hung over all the sea like a 


120 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


pall. Dave longed for daybreak. The dis- 
covery of the driftwood had given him a good 
deal of courage and hope. 

For over eight hours Dave rocked and 
drifted, at the mere caprice of the waves. 
Wearied, faint, and thirsty, he tried to cheer 
himself thinking of the possibility of land 
near at hand. 

Daylight broke at last, but a dense haze like 
a fog hung over the waters for an hour before 
the sun cleared it away. Eagerly Dave 
scanned in turn each point of the compass. A 
great sigh of disappointment escaped his 
lips. 

^^No land in sight,’’ he said; ^‘just the blank, 
unbroken ocean.” 

His plight was a dispiriting one. Dave felt 
that unless succor came in some shape or 
other, and that, too, very soon, his chances of 
ever seeing home and friends again were in- 
deed remote. 

He noted the widespread mass of driftwood 
with friendly eyes, for it broke the monotony 
of the green expanse that tired the sight with 
its illimitable continuity. 

‘‘There’s a pretty big piece of driftwood,” 
Dave said, looking quite a distance towards a 
larger object than he had yet seen. It rose 


ADRIFT 0^" THE PACIFIC 121 

and fell with the swaying of the wave. ^Hf I 
could find a few such pieces I might construct 
a raft.^’ 

Dave began to swim off in the direction of 
the object in the distance. A great cry of joy 
escaped his lips as he neared it. 

‘Ht is not a log/’ he shouted rapturously, 
‘‘but a boat. A small yawl. Oh, dear, but I 
am thankful !” 

In his urgency to reach the boat Dave let go 
of the piece of driftwood that had served him 
so well. His eyes grew bright and he forgot 
all his discomfort and suffering. 

With a kind of cheer Dave lifted himself 
over the side of the little yawl. It was flimsy, 
dirty, and old. The prow was splintered, one 
of the seats was broken out, but Dave sank 
down into the craft with a luxurious sense of 
relief and delight. 

There were no oars, but Dave did not think 
much of that. He had something under him 
to sustain him. That was the main thing for 
the present. 

“I can make rude oars of some of the drift- 
wood and the front seat,” he calculated. “If 
it rains I shall have water, and there are 
clouds coming up fast in the west now. I 
may catch some fish. What’s in there, I won- 


122 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


der,’’ and Dave pulled open the door of the 
little locker. 

“Hurrah V’ he shouted this time, utterly un- 
able to control his intense satisfaction. Lying 
in the locker was a rudely made reed basket. 
In this were two bottles. Dave speedily as- 
sured himself that they held water, warm and 
brackish, but far from unwelcome to the 
taste. 

About twenty hardtack cakes and a chunk 
of cheese completed the contents of the basket. 

“I never ate such a meal before,’^ jubilated 
Dave, having satisfied his hunger and care- 
fully repacked the supplies. He paused to 
read a part of a label pasted across the front 
of one of the bottles of water. “This came 
from the Raveriy 

Dave had a right to think this. At one time 
the bottle had held some kind of table sauce. 
Written under the label were the words “Cap- 
tain^s table. Raven/’ 

“The boat, too, must have belonged to the 
Raven’’ said Dave, “although I don’t knoAV 
that surely. It looks as if some one of Cap- 
tain Nesik’s crew had put to sea in this yawl, 
and was probably lost in the storms of the last 
week.” 

A great rain came up about an hour later. 


ADRIFT OK THE PACIFIC 


123 


There was not niueli wind. Following the 
rain a dense mist shut out sea and skj. 

Dave could only drift at the will of the 
waves. He had it in mind to construct some 
kind of oars, but he did not know the distance 
or even the direction of land. 

The day grew well on into the afternoon. 
Dave had removed the door of the locker. He 
had also gathered into the boat the longest 
pieces of driftwood he could find. Fortunatel}’^ 
he had discovered in the locker several pieces 
of fine tarred rope, which would prove a great 
help in making the oars. He was laying out 
his work when a curious flapping noise made 
him look up. He sprang to his feet. Pounc- 
ing down upon him were four immense birds. 
They were not eagles, but fully twice as large 
as any eagle he had ever seen. 

They attacked Dave in unison. One clawed 
into his left arm while another gave him a 
severe blow with one of its wings, swooped 
down upon the exposed reed basket, seized it, 
and flew away with it. Dave snatched up a 
piece of driftwood. 

He shouted to frighten the birds, swinging 
his weapon among them vigorously. One he 
disabled and it fell into the water and floated 
out of sight, the other two he finally beat off. 


124 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

The loss of the provision basket troubled 
Dave severely. He sank breathless into the 
boat, his face and hands badly scratched and 
bleeding. 

The next instant, to the infinite surprise of 
Dave Fearless, a gruff voice sounded through 
the mist : 

“Ahoy there! What^s the rumpus?’’ 


CHAPTER XIV 


STRANGE COMPANIONS 

Dave knew at once that his shouts at the 
large birds must have attracted the attention 
of the person who was now hailing him. 

‘^Ahoy, yourself he cried, starting to his 
feet and peering expectantly through the mist 
in the direction from which the challenge had 
come. 

In a few moments the outline of a yawl 
somewhat larger than the one Dave was in 
loomed up in the near distance. A man was 
seated in its bow, while two others rowed the 
boat. 

They came alongside. All three looked 
haggard and worn out. In the bottom of their 
boat lay a broken demijohn. They reminded 
Dave of sailors he had often seen on shipboard 
getting over a debauch. 

^Why,” said the man in the bow, staring in 
amazement at Dave, ^4f it isn’t young Fear- 
less, the diver !” 

remember you, Mr. Daley,” responded 
125 


126 


ADRIFT OK THE PACIFIC 


Dare, recognizing the speaker as one of the 
crew of the Raven. Dave had a dim memory, 
too, of having seen Daley^s two companions 
with Captain Nesik’s crew. 

Daley drew the two yawls close together 
with a boathook, and he and Dave were face 
to face. 

^^Young Fearless of the Swallow , he kept 
saying, in a marveling tone. ^‘And in this fix. 
Why, where did you ever come from?’^ 

Where did you, Mr. Daley inquired Dave 
directly. “Mine is a pretty long story — sup- 
pose you tell yours first 

“Huh, that won’t take much time,” mut- 
tered Daley, with a savage kick at the frag- 
ments of the demijohn. “We stole all that 
gold from you. Little good did it do us. 
Captain Nesik and the Hankers, after they 
marooned you fellows, made a landing and 
divided up the gold into boxes. They put 
them on the Swalloiv. Well, when the Steal- 
loiv parted from the Raven in a cyclone, she 
Avent down — gold, men aboard, and all.” 

“And the Raven inquired Dave. 

“She drove on the rocks and has been dis- 
abled ever since. It would take a big steamer 
to pull her into serAuce again,” explained 
Daley. “After she got into that fix Nesik 


STRANGE COMPANIONS 


127 


decided to desert her. They made a camp on 
land on the west island of those you know 
about.’’ 

^^What about the natives?” inquired Dave. 

^They seemed to have all gone back to the 
main island except a few. These hung 
around and spied on us; most of them Nesik 
shot. He landed lots of provender and rum 
from the Raven. For a week Nesik let the 
men have their fill. He and the Hankers and 
that pawnbroker fellow ” 

^^Gerstein?” suggested Dave. 

^‘Yes, Gerstein,’’ nodded Daley. ^^Well, 
those four took the longboat which was saved 
from the wreck and went scouting, they called 
it. They went away and returned for several 
days. One day they came back on foot with- 
out the longboat, and said that it and Gerstein 
had gone down in a quicksand. The men be- 
gan to grow restive after another week. They 
couldn’t understand what Nesik was lying 
idle for. They wondered what made him and 
Cal Vixen the diver and the Hankers so con- 
tented to just squat down and loaf. The men 
got cross when Nesik cut down grub rations. 
A deputation waited on him.” 

^^What was the result?” inquired Dave, with 
great interest. 


128 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


‘‘Nesik told them to do what they liked and 
go where they liked. Said he was going to 
take his chances, waiting for a ship to come 
along. Result was, one by one the small craft 
of the Raven were stolen. We nabbed this 
boat one night and put to sea. We were 
bound to make some kind of a try to get away 
from those islands.’^ 

^^Have you any idea where we are now?’’ 
inquired Dave. 

^^Sure, I have,” answered Daley. ‘‘We’re in 
one of those tidal channels that run around 
the Windjammers’ Island so freely. That’s a 
queer thing about these diggings. A fellow 
can row miles and drift back to the islands. 
Those channels are regular whirlpools in a 
storm.” 

“And what are you thinking of doing now?” 
asked Dave. 

“Getting back to land of course. We 
wouldn’t run across a ship in a hundred Years 
on this out-of-the-way route. We can never 
hope to row thousands of miles to a continent 
coast. No — provender being gone, and espe- 
cially the rum, we don’t feel quite as bold as 
we did when we started out,” confessed Daley, 
with a dejected air. 

“No,” put in one of his companions lazily, 


STRANGE COMPANIONS 


129 


^^weTl go back and take pot-luck with what’s 
left of the Raven crowd.’^ 

^Mf theyTl have us,” put in his companion. 
^‘Looked to me all along as if for some pur- 
pose or other Nesik wanted to get rid of 
us.” 

^‘You’re right there, mate,” declared Daley. 
^MVe thought that, too, many a time. Maybe 
he and his cronies calculated there would be 
more grub around with fewer mouths to 
feed.” 

Dave thought over all the men had said. 
He fancied that he guessed out the reason why 
Nesik was so willing to have his men leave 
him. He knew that he would be asked to give 
information in return for what he had re- 
ceived. Dave tried to decide how far he dared 
to trust the three castaways. 

“Now then,” just as he expected, Daley 
spoke, “weVe told you our story. How about 
yours? That’s a Raven boat there you’re in. 
How did you get it?” 

“I found it drifting loose a few hours ago,” 
said Dave. 

“That’s likely enough,” said Daley suspi- 
ciously, “but where was you waiting for such 
things to drift around loose?” 

“I was floating on a piece of driftwood,” 


130 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


explained Dave. ^^You know you people ma- 
rooned us on the island.” 

didnT,” declared Daley ; ^‘that was 
Nesik’s work.” 

^^You helped,” said Dave, ‘‘and you’ve had 
nothing but bad luck since. Now, Mr. Daley, 
I’m going to tell you something. You think 
the Sicalloto was lost in the cyclone.” 

“Know it. Men, gold, and all.” 

“No,” said Dave, watching his man closely 
to note the effect of his disclosures. “The 
Swallow was not lost at all.” 

Daley stared hard and incredulously at 
Dave. 

“How do you know?” he asked. 

“Because I was aboard of her not twenty- 
four hours since. The truth is, in that cyclone 
she was driven ashore on the west island you 
speak about. There Captain Broadbeam and 
the rest of us discovered her. We found Mr. 
Drake, the boatswain; Bob Adams, the engi- 
neer, and Mike Conners, the cook, prisoners 
on board.” 

“That’s right,” nodded Daley; “those fel- 
lows wouldn’t come in with us, and Nesik put 
them in irons. Go on.” 

“We also found some labeled boxes in the 
hold.” 


STRANGE COMPANIONS 


131 


^Tlie treasure!’’ cried Daley excitedly. 
‘^Alas, yes, it was all divided and made into 
portions, so much for the Hankers, so much 
for Nesik, so much for the crew\ Why, we 
saw the Hankers divide it with our own eyes, 
didn’t w^e, mates?” 

‘‘That we did,” declared his two companions 
in unison. 

“So Mr. Drake told us,” resumed Dave. 
“Well, w^e liberated our friends, got the Swal- 
low in trim, and steamed aw ay from the Wind- 
jammers’ Island about three w’eeks ago.” 

“With all that gold !” cried Daley, with dis- 
appointed but covetous eyes. “Oh, my mates, 
think of it !” 

“No,” interrupted Dave, “w^e thought the 
gold w^as there. The second home port we 
reached w^e opened the boxes to see.” 

“It must have been a sight,” said Daley 
gloatingly. 

“It w^as,” nodded Dave, with a queer little 
smile — “sand, lead, old junk, every box full of 
them, and not a gold coin there.” 

Daley sprang up in the boat with a wdld cry. 
His companions partook of his excitement. 

“Then — then ” panted Daley, with blaz- 

ing eyes. 

“Why, the Nesik crowed just deluded you 


132 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

poor foolish felloAvs. Exactly as he did us,” 
spoke Dave quietly, but with a definite em- 
phasis. *^As I say, there was none of the 
treasure in the boxes. Where was it, then? 
Easy to guess. It Avas put in the boxes to de- 
lude you fellows and later secretly removed 
to the Raven. Nesik intended to lose the 
Sicallow some way. The cyclone helped him 
out.” 

Daley drew out a long-bladed knife. He 
began abusing Nesik and the Hankers. He 
slashed the air in a frantic manner. 

kill them for this. I’ll kill them!” he 
raA^ed. ‘^Men, you’ll help me? A¥hy,” he ex- 
claimed suddenly, ^‘then the gold must be on 
the Raven, stuck on the rock, eh?” 

‘^Hardly,” answered Dave. ‘‘No, Nesik in- 
tended losing the SicalloiOy sailing for South 
America, getting rid of you felloAvs cheap, and 
then he and the Flankers and Gerstein Avould 
make a grand division of the spoils. Their 
plans miscarried. The Raven got wrecked. 
Don’t you see they got you all ashore quick as 
they could? Without doubt those mysterious 
days of scouting in the longboat, as you call it, 
Avere devoted to getting the gold ashore to 
some safe and secret hiding-place.” 

^‘Then Ave’ll haAC our share,” shouted Daley. 


STRANGE COMPANIONS 


133 


^^Mates, for shore; for shore, mates, to find 
those measly robbers, to pounce on them and 
make them give up what belongs to us. Ha, 
more,’’ declared Dalej^ ^^We’ll kill them off; 
we’ll take it all.” 

^^Why, Mr. Daley,” quietly suggested Dave, 
^fit appears to me you are forgetting some- 
thing.” 

‘^What’s that?” 

^‘That treasure belongs to my father and my- 
self.” 

Daley looked sheepish, then surly. 

^Mf you should get hold of it what could you 
do with it?” pursued Dave. ‘^You can’t spend 
it on the Windjammers’ Island. You can 
never get it away from there except in a 
stanch vessel, such as may not come along for 
years. I should think,” added Dave, “after 
all the trouble you have seen grow out of the 
Hankers stealing what was not their own, you 
would take a new tack.” 

“How, a new tack?” demanded Daley, 
surlily surveying Dave from under his bushy, 
bent broAvs. 

“Be square and honest. The Raven people 
have deceived you. I have a proposition to 
make you. Put this whole matter in my 
hands, promise to help me work it out as I 


134 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

think best, and ITl guarantee you two 
things.” 

‘What are they?” demanded Daley. 

“First, that I will soon locate the hiding- 
place of the treasure — which you never may.” 

“ThaPs so,” mumbled one of Daley’s com- 
panions, “everything has been queered that we 
tried to do so far.” 

“Secondly,” added Dave, “when that treas- 
ure is found, I promise, if you come in with me, 
to give each of you a liberal share of it.” 


V 


CHAPTEE XV 

A PERILOUS CRUISE 

The sailor Daley sat down quietly in the 
bow of the yawl, his face beaming. 

^^Do you mean that, Fearless?’’ he said, 
certainly do,” answered Dave. 

‘‘You want us to side with you?” 

“I have said so, Mr. Daley, haven’t I ?” asked 
Dave pleasantly. 

“Make it a bargain, Daley,” advised one of 
his companions eagerly. “He’s a smart lad, 
and his talk is square, although we have 
treated him low and shabby.” 

“Never mind that,” said Dave lightly. 
“You were in bad company, that’s all. Make 
it business, up and down. My father and I 
came here to get a fortune which we had right- 
fully inherited. The Hankers have tried to 
steal it. We shall get that fortune yet. Isn’t 
it better for you people to be in on the winning 
side?” 

“Fearless,” said Daley, “there’s my hand. 
It's a compact, is it?” 

135 


136 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


‘^True and faithful/^ answered Dave, and 
they shook hands all around. ^‘Now let me 
tell you that the Swalloio is in fine trim, is 
cruising around these waters somewhere. She 
is bound, of course, to land on the Windjam- 
mers’ Island. Get these boats there if you 
know how to do it, and we’ll soon get into some 
kind of action that is bound to bring us up 
against Captain Broadbeam and the others, 
who will be true friends to jou if you’ll only 
do the right thing.” 

Dave felt that he had gained a decided vic- 
tory in making these men his allies. Without 
their help he could not reach land. They 
could guide him to the land camp of Captain 
Nesik. The four of them could resist attacks 
of the natives if they ran across them, where 
one might fail. 

Dave reasoned that if the men changed their 
minds later and attempted any treachery, it 
would be at a time when he and his friends 
were prepared to meet and thwart it. 

Dave had confidence in the belief that in 
some way he would find the Sioallow or the 
Swalloio would find him. 

His previous stirring adventures, among the 
Windjammers and with the Raven crowd, had 
brought hardship and endurance that made 


A PERILOUS CRUISE 


137 


him now hopeful and courageous and quick to 
see a way to meet a situation and conquer it. 

In fact, Dave^s career had made consider- 
able of a man of him. It had taught him self- 
reliance, and he was pleased to notice how 
readily the three castaways recognized him as 
a leader. 

They acted like new men under the spur of 
new hopes. They evidently believed in Dave. 
It was some time, however, before Daley would 
consent to forego his thirstings for revenge 
against Nesik and the Hankers. 

‘‘DonT you go for to spoil everything by 
thinking up a rumpus,’^ advised one of the 
sailor’s companions. ‘‘Young Fearless means 
what he says. Let’s rest on that, say I, and 
follow his orders.” 

“I have none to give at present,” said Dave. 
“When I do, I am sure we will work in 
harmony all right. Mr. Daley, you are the 
pilot. Can we reach the Windjammers’ Isl- 
and in any way?” 

“I know the point of the compass all right,” 
asserted Daley. “The course may be a little 
blind until this mist rises, but — to your oars, 
men, and strike due west. That way,” and 
Daley indicated the direction. “Get aboard. 
Fearless. It’s most comfortable in the stern.” 


138 


ADBIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


“Shall we tow the smaller boat?^’ inquired 
the young diver. 

“WhaCs the use? We don’t need it, and it 
would only hamper us. There you are, neat 
and tidy.” 

They cast the smaller boat adrift. Dave 
settled down comfortably in the stern of the 
larger yawl. 

“My !” he soliloquized, “when I think of my 
forlorn chances when I went overboard from 
the Stvallow last night and this comfort and 
security, I’m a very thankful boy.” 

Dave had not had a wink of sleep for over 
thirty-six hours. He began to doze. Daley, 
noticing this, ceased his chatter with his com- 
panions. Dave was soon fast asleep. 

He roused up with a vivid start some hours 
later. He had slept so profoundly, owing to a 
natural weariness and exhaustion after his 
arduous experiences, that he had not even been 
disturbed by a howling tempest that had come 
up. 

The mist had dispersed, and it was night. 
A furious gale was blowing, and the frail yawl 
was riding on high waves. 

Daley had crawled along the boat. He was 
shaking Dave vigorously by the arm. At the 
same time, bringing his lips close to Dave's 


A PERILOUS CRUISE 


130 


ear, he shouted loudly a word that aroused 
Dave like an electric shock : 

^^Land 

‘^What — where?” cried Dave, starting up. 

‘‘Steady, mate,” warned Daley, holding 
Dave back in the seat. “Get your peepers wide 
open and all your senses woke up. Drop the 
oars,” he yelled to his companions, “they’re 
only in the way. Let her swing. It’s drift or 
drown now, sure.” 

Dave sat for a moment grasping the sides of 
the yawl, and realizing that they were being 
driven along at a fearful rate of speed. Daley 
and his companions, too, were holding on for 
life. 

“You said land,” Dave shouted, trying to 
raise his voice above the roar of the tempest. 

“Yes,” answered Daley. “Now then, when 
we top a wave, look sharp — there!” 

Daley pointed, and Dave fixed his glance 
steadily in the direction indicated. 

“I see nothing,” he said as they went up, 
down, and up again. “What did you mean?” 

“A light — there it is.” 

“I see it,” cried Dave. 

“It must be a fire alongshore somewhere, 
probably the Windjammers’ Island,” declared 
Daley. 


140 


• ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Dave continued to look. He studied the 
light each time he was afforded an oppor- 
tunity. This was only when they climbed 
some mighty wave, and only for a few seconds. 

‘‘You are wrong , Mr. Daley, said Dave 
finally. 

“Wrong about what? IPs a light, I tell 
you.” 

“Yes, but not a shore light.” 

“You donT know that.” 

“Yes, I do. It moves as we move, only more 
steadily. It is some vessel,” declared Dave. 
“I wouldn’t wonder if it was the Swallow,^^ 

The mere conjecture excited Daley greatly. 
The men worked at the oars again. This, 
however, proved lost energy. When it re- 
sulted in one of the oars being torn from the 
grasp of its holder, and cast adrift into the 
sea, Daley uttered a heart-rending groan. 

One of his mates, how^ever, suggested some- 
thing — this w^as to use his coat as a kind of 
sail. He and the other oarsman attempted 
this. 

“We’re going in the direction of the light, 
sure,” cried Daley jubilantly. 

“We’re going down!” shouted the man w^ho 
had suggested tlie impromptu sail. 

Dave saw’ that all w’as over. Whether the 


A PERILOUS CRUISE 


141 


use of the sail hastened the situation, or the 
little craft would have been overturned any- 
way by the gigantic wind that suddenly struck 
it, he had no time to conjecture. 

In an instant the yawl was raised by a 
mighty force. It flopped over flat, spilling out 
all hands. 

Dave saw his companions hurled from his 
sight like disappearing phantoms. His hand 
was held by the wrist in a rope loop he had 
clung to for protection since waking up. 

Dave went over with the boat, under with it, 
and was unable to disentangle his wrist. His 
arm seemed broken. He was whipped about 
in a frightful manner. 

Twice his head struck the keel of the scud- 
ding yawl, twice he was submerged, choked 
and blinded. 

A third contact with the yawl landed a hard 
blow right across the temple, and Dave Fear- 
less lost consciousness. 


CHAPTER XVI 


LANDED 

Dave must have gone through a fearful ex- 
perience during the next hour. Its details he 
never knew. Familiar with the chances and 
accidents of the seafaring situation from 
childhood^ however, when he opened his eyes 
again he could figure out how kind his natural 
element had been to him. 

He lay on a sandy shore. When his senses 
first came back a positive thrill permeated his 
frame. 

A joyful cry arose to his lips. It was irre- 
pressible. He was bruised, battered, soaked 
through, but the realization that he had 
landed, that he once more rested on firm hard 
soil, overcame every sensation of discomfort 
and pain. 

‘‘Landed,” murmured Dave, in great de- 
light, and that was the only idea he could take 
into his confused mind for the moment. 

He opened his eyes. It was clear starlight. 

14Z 


LANDED 


143 


He laj on a sandy beach. The waves lapped 
him to the knees. Beside him was the yawl, 
stove in at one side. He was still attached to 
it by the wrist held firmly in the rope loop. 

The yawl had proved a loyal convoy. As 
the tempest swept it along, Dave must have 
been held at least a part of the time out of the 
water. This had saved his life. Perhaps, he 
thought, he might at times also have lain 
across the upturned keel of the yawl. 

At all events he was saved. There was not 
a bone in his body that did not ache. His 
wrist was swollen greatly and the arm was 
numb to the shoulder. 

^^I’m badly battered,’’ reflected Dave. 
must get my arm loose some way.” 

The youth groped in his pocket with his free 
hand. It was a laborious task getting into 
the soaked garment. When he got his pocket 
knife out, Dave had to open it with his teeth. 

He managed to cut the rope that imprisoned 
him, and fell away from the yawl with a feel- 
ing of great relief. Then he lay on the ground 
flat on his back, and for some moments tried 
to think of nothing but absolute rest and com- 
fort. 

Dave struggled to an upright position 
finally. He was amazed at his weakness and 


144 


ADRIFT 0 ^ THE PACIFIC 


helplessness. Twice his feet refused to hold 
him up, and he fell down. His injured arm 
was perfectly numb and flabby at his side. 

“This won’t do at all,” he thought, arousing 
himself. “I’m awful thirsty, too. Well, I 
may be able to crawl.” 

Dave attempted to go up the beach. About 
a hundred feet away, through breaks in a belt 
of green trees, he could catch the sparkle of 
water running over the rocks. 

The moon had come up during all these 
various efforts to get into action. Dave could 
see his way clearly. He made in the direction 
of the water. 

After slowly and painfully progressing for 
perhaps a hundred feet Dave found that his 
blood had begun to circulate. He pulled him- 
self to his feet by means of some high bushes 
he had reached by this time. 

Each moment his control increased over the 
numbed joints and muscles. 

“This is better,” said he, with satisfaction, 
as after some stumbling steps, with the aid of 
a dead tree branch, he was able to limp up- 
right though slowly. 

Dave reached the water, a mere rill gushing 
down the shore bluff over some rocks. It was 
clear and sparkling, and he took a deep 


LANDED 


145 


draught of the life-giving element that in- 
vigorated him greatly. 

^^Hungry/’ thought Dave next. “Thanks to 
Stoodles — good V’ 

Right at his side Dave discovered a bush 
full of pods. When on the Windjammers’ 
Island with Stoodles, the latter had shown 
him this very bush. Upon it grew pods full 
of kernels that tasted like cocoa. Dave ate 
plentifully, though it was not a very satisfy- 
ing meal. 

“Now then,” he spoke. “Oh, how could I 
have forgotten them!” he cried with sudden 
self-reproachfulness. 

It was quite natural in his forlorn, confused 
condition that Dave should first of all have 
thought only of himself. Still, his deep 
anxiety, poignantly aroused now as he thought 
of Daley and the others who had been in the 
yawl with him, showed his heart to be in the 
right place. 

He hurried down to the beach again, in his 
solicitude for his late companions forgetting 
how crippled he was, and had several falls. 

“It’s no use,” said Dave sadly, after over an 
hour’s search along the lonely shore. “They 
must have perished, Daley and the others.” 

The conviction saddened the youth for a 


146 


ADEIFT ON' THE PACIFIC 


long time. He sat down thinking over things 
for nearly an hour. 

donT know where I am/^ he said, rising 
to his feet, ^^and I must trust to luck as to 
w^hat is best next to do. This must be the 
Windjammers^ Island. I think I could tell if 
I could get to some high point overlooking it 
or a part of it.” 

Dave looked doubtfully up beyond the shore 
cliffs where the higher hills showed. It 
looked to be a pretty hard task to scale those 
heights in his present battered-up condition. 

‘‘I’m going to try it, anyhow,” decided Dave, 
and he did. 

“I can’t go any farther — at least not just 
now,” said Dave, an hour later. 

He sank down on a moss-covered rock over- 
looking a kind of valley. Its other side, 
however, was higher up than the point where 
he was. 

“I think another hundred feet will bring me 
to where I can get a good view,” thought 
the young diver ; “that is in daylight, and day- 
light will soon be here.” 

The pods, which tasted like cocoa, had been 
filling to Dave, but not exactly satisfying. 

“It’s like a fellow eating candy when he 
needs beefsteak,” he mused. “I shall have to 


LANDED 147 

hunt up something more substantial later 
on.” 

From his previous acquaintance with the 
island Dave knew that there were many kinds 
of shellfish to be found, besides berries and 
other fruits, for the searching. He was not 
one bit afraid that he would have to starve. 

must watch out for the natives, too,” he 
continued. must devise some kind of a 
weapon of defense.” 

Dave thought over these things, lying rest- 
fully on the rock. He had about decided to 
resume his journey, calculating how long it 
would take him to reach a certain point on 
which his eyes were fixed. 

^^Hello !” he exclaimed suddenly, sitting 
bolt-upright. 

What had attracted Dave’s attention was a 
light. It had appeared suddenly on a ledge, 
almost at the top of the hill he was bent on 
climbing. 

It was no fixed light, but a broad swaying 
jet of fire. Whoever held it was evidently 
swinging a lighted wisp of straw or something 
of that sort. 

wonder what that means,” mused Dave, 
wonder who it can be. Probably a native. 
But, native or otherwise, there is method in 


148 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


the way that light is moving. Yes, it cer- 
tainly is a signal.’’ 

Such Dave decided it surely to be after 
watching the light for some minutes. 

It described circular and other figures. It 
seemed directed at a point somewhere down 
the valley. 

would like to know what is going on up 
there,” said Dave, rousing up. ‘Ht would 
give me an inkling as to whom I have to deal 
with and where I really am.” 

After a further rest of a few minutes the 
young diver resumed the ascent of the hill. 


CHAPTER XVII 


A REMARKABLE SCENE 

^Well^ this is queer.” 

Dave Fearless looked curious and acted 
as if startled. By the time he had got near to 
the ledge where he had seen the mysterious 
signal, daylight had come. 

Long since that illumination had been dis- 
continued. Dave had paused with due cau- 
tion as he approached its cause. He had 
lurked behind a big rock fronting the shelf of 
stone. 

No other sound or presence was indicated, 
and after a spell of watchfulness Dave decided 
to approach closer. It was as he peered 
around the edge of a cavelike qpening fronting 
the ravine that he uttered the words : 

^^Well, this is queer.” 

The cave extended back into the hill a long 
way. Dave could decide this by the shadows 
cast by a light that burned about fifteen feet 
from its opening. A rude earthen pot of 
149 


150 


ADRIFT ON" THE PACIFIC 


native construction was filled with some kind 
of oil. A wick, made out of some fibrous 
plant, burned within it. 

This light illuminated a long broad piece of 
matting laid across the floor of the cave. As 
Dave examined the various articles spread out 
on this mat, he was filled with amazement. 

There were all kinds of dishes, such as Dave 
had seen in the homes of the Windjammers. 
These were made of thin bark and deco- 
rated with figures of flowers and birds out- 
lined in berry stains. 

^^The wonder of it all, though,’’ said Dave; 
^Tood, and such food — all kinds.” 

In the dishes were berries and other fruits, 
a kind of tapioca bread also. Then there were 
meats, all cooked and cold, and some fish the 
same. There were also two quite tastefully 
made bowls filled with a clear white liquid 
that Dave took to be cocoanut milk. 

Dave watched for a long time. The display 
tempted his appetite prodigiously. 

^‘Of course there’s a proprietor for all this 
elegant layout,” said Dave. ‘‘What’s the occa- 
sion of it? Where is he?” 

Dave sent a piece of stone rattling noisily 
into the cave, then a second. He waited and 
listened. 


A EEMARKABLE SCENE 


151 


‘‘I don’t believe there is anyone in there,” 
he decided. ‘‘I can’t resist it. I don’t know 
who this feast is spread for, but I want a 
share of it.” 

Dave stepped forward boldly now. His 
audacity was increased as he made out a spear 
standing against a rock. Dave took the pre- 
caution to arm himself with this. Then he 
came still nearer to the food. 

Whoever had prepared the feast was, in 
Dave’s estimation, a most admirable cook. 
The various articles he sampled tasted most 
appetizing. 

‘‘Fine as home cooking,” said Dave, with 
satisfaction, stepping back from the mat. 
“One man wouldn’t have all that stuff for 
breakfast, though. Is it some native cere- 
monial like Stoodles has told me about? Or 
does the man expect friends? That’s it,” 
Dave reasoned it out. “Maybe he has gone 
to meet them. I had better make myself 
scarce.” 

Dave was now satisfied that he was really 
on the Windjammers’ Island. The articles in 
the cave were in a measure familiar to him. 
Then, too, a glance from the cliffs as he had 
ascended them had shown a distant coastline, 
suggesting precisely the spot where Captain 


152 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Broadbeam, himself, and the others had been 
marooned. 

Dave resolved to appropriate the weapon he 
had taken up. He started to leave the cave 
and retrace his steps to the beach. At the 
entrance he paused abruptly and started back. 

^Too late,’^ he exclaimed ; ‘^someone is com- 
ing.” 

Dave had almost run out upon two men. A 
curious circumstance prevented them seeing 
him. They were approaching from the direc- 
tion opposite to that from which he himself 
had come in reaching the cave. 

Both were natives. The minute Dave saw 
them he instantly recognized them as belong- 
ing to the Windjammers^ tribe of which his 
friend Pat Stoodles had once been king. 

One of them was a thin, mean-looking fel- 
low, scrawn}^ and wild-eyed. He was creeping 
on hands and knees along the path. His pose 
and manner suggested the utmost humility. 

The other was a man gayly decked out. He 
wore a richly embroidered skin across his 
shoulders and a necklace of gaudy shells. He 
had a kind of mace in his hand. The lordly 
manner in which he carried his head indicated 
extreme pride and importance. 

^^Why,” said Dave, backing into the gloomy 


A REMARKABLE SCENE 


15 . 


depths of the cave, “that is the same dress the 
man wore who was the great priest of the tribe 
when I was on the Windjammers’ Island the 
first time.” 

There seemed to be no doubt but that Dave 
was back on the old stamping-ground of Pat 
Stoodles. He was not at all sorry for this. 
It was the destination of the Swallow. Per- 
haps the steamer had already reached it. 

“Things are working easier for me than I 
had any right to expect,” reflected Dave, “only 
I must keep out of the clutches of any of the 
natives till I locate my friends.” 

Dave got behind an obscure rock. From 
there he peered intently at the two men who 
now entered the cave ; the one crawling on his 
hands and knees, the other maintaining still 
his lofty bearing of superiority. 

Reaching the mat, the guide arose to his 
feet. He showed the greatest humility and 
respect in all that he did. 

He made a gesture to have his visitor sit 
down to the feast. The latter shook his head 
in great disdain. 

Then the evident resident of the cave 
groaned and wept and rolled all over on the 
ground as if in the deepest despair. In a 
mournful sing-song voice he seemed to make 


.64 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

an appeal to his august visitor to graut some 
prayer. 

The priest finally stamped his foot and 
spoke some quick words. The other arose. 
The priest, fixing a menacing eye upon him, 
advanced, and putting out a hand, tried to 
pull aside the garment which the man wore on 
the upper part of his body. 

The poor wretch seemed frantic. He clung 
close to the garment, seeming especially anx- 
ious not to expose his back or shoulders. 

The priest, however, managed to tear the 
front of the garment open. Then Dave half 
understood the situation from something he 
remembered to have heard Stoodles tell about 
on a previous occasion. 

A peculiar mark, a circle inclosing a cross, 
was visible on the chest of the suppliant. 

know what that means,^’ mused Dave. 
^‘They b.rand their criminals, drive them away, 
and if they ever approach the tribe again, they 
burn them alive. That is the outcast brand. 
Stoodles told me so when he was on this island 
with me.” 

The refugee cowered with shame. Then he 
kicked aside some of the dishes of the feast 
Tvhich his august visitor had spurned. 

‘Hhn glad of that,” thought Dave. ^‘Now 






HALF A HUNDRED OR MORE PURE GOLD COINS ! — Page I 
Adrift on the Pacific. 


A REMARKABLE SCENE 


155 


lie won’t be likely to notice that I have been 
trespassing.” 

The outcast went to a sort of shelf in the 
cave. He came back, poising a small earthen 
crock in his hand. 

He began a quick talk to the priest in a 
louder, more assured tone. The latter sud- 
denly changed his manner. His eyes spar- 
kled. He looked eager and excited. 

The outcast seemed to be giving a most 
glowing description of the contents of the lit- 
tle crock. Dave tried to follow his meaning. 

“He is saying,” translated Dave to himself, 
“that he has great quantities of whatever the 
crock contains — lots of it, heaps of it — I see. 
Now he has interested the priest. He is offer- 
ing to buy his citizenship back into the tribe, 
that looks sure. Ah, he is showing what he 
has in the crock. Gracious!” 

Dave forgot all prudence. He was so inter- 
ested that he slipped out from hiding to gaze 
at the contents of the crock, now poured out 
rapidly by the outcast upon the food mat. 

Fortunately the two men were equally en- 
grossed. What the outcast had poured out of 
tlie crock were half a hundred or more pure 
gold coins ! 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE OUTCAST'S SECRET 

The young ocean diver had a right to be 
astonished and interested. The first moment 
his eyes landed on the coins the outcast had 
exhibited, he felt sure they were part of the 
ocean treasure. 

They were similar in size to the bulk of the 
pieces brought up from the ocean bed in the 
diving bell. They looked the same at a dis- 
tance. Besides, where on this rarely visited 
island would the native get such a hoard ex- 
cept from the treasure heap? 

The priest gathered up a lot of the coins. 
They manifestly pleased him. He laughed 
with glee and clinked them musically together 
in his hands. 

Then he seemed to ask the outcast a great 
many questions. He stamped his feet as the 
latter appeared to evade direct answers. 

‘‘It’s plain,” said the anxiously watchful 
156 


THE OUTCAST’S SECRET ISY 

Dave, ^Tliose coins came from our stolen store. 
This native knows where it is.’’ 

Dave thought this a great discovery. From 
the way the outcast pointed Dave decided the 
bulk of the treasure was at a distance some- 
where. 

don’t believe he has told the priest 
where,” Dave surmised. ‘‘He seems bargain- 
ing to have the outcast edict removed, then he 
will pay a much greater amount. That’s the 
way all this jabbering looks. Ah, they have 
come to an agreement.” 

The priest had become very gracious now. 
He pointed, too, in his rapid talk as if agree- 
ing to return to the royal village and acted as 
if some proposal was to be made to the native 
king. 

“I hope I can get out of here before they 
bring any more people,” thought Dave. “I 
can’t do it just now, though, that is sure.” 

The priest went away. The outcast began 
to array himself in new apparel. He grinned 
and chuckled and acted as if delighted. Dave 
figured out that he had bought his pardon. 

Clearing the mat the native sat down in its 
center, first surrounding himself with a 
variety of native weapons. 

“He is going to receive his company in 


158 


ADRIFT ON^ THE PACIFIC 


state/’ decided Dave. simply couldn’t get 
past him without being seen. He is heavily 
armed, too. Well, I’ll have to wait patiently 
and watch out for my chance to escape.” 

One hour went by, two hours. Dave did 
not dare to stir from the covert in the cave 
where he crouched. Once the idea was sug- 
gested to his mind of overcoming the native 
who possessed a secret of such importance to 
him. The next moment, however, he saw how 
foolish this would be. Even if he succeeded, 
what could he do with the man, on his hands 
alone, not knowing the whereabouts of his 
friends, and his captive speaking a language 
he could not understand? 

Dave was thinking over all these things 
when there came a sudden climax to the 
situation. 

Without warning a dozen armed natives 
dashed past him with echoing yells. 

It was patent to Dave that these men, ap- 
prized by the priest, had been instructed to 
steal into the cave by another entrance than 
the front one known to them and seize the out- 
cast. 

It looked as if the law of the island would 
not allow the king to treat on any terms what- 
ever with an outcast. All the poor fellow’s 


THE OUTCAST'S SECRET 


159 


negotiations, therefore, seemed to have gone 
for naught. He must have realized treachery. 
He must have guessed that he would now be 
taken to the king as a captive, his secret tor- 
tured out of him, and the voice of the populace 
might demand that he be burned alive. 

At all events he acted with acute alarm. 
He was on his feet in an instant. Dave saw 
him clear the entrance to the cave in a flash. 
The men who had burst so quickly upon the 
scene dashed out after him. 

Dave could not help running to the entrance 
of the cave to see how things turned out. The 
fugitive had gone west away from the coast. 
Dave saw him far outdistance his pursuers. 
Darts and spears were hurled after him, but 
they all missed him. He finally disappeared 
into a grove, and distance shut out his pur- 
suers as well. 

Dave seized his spear and started promptly 
in the direction of the sea. In his brief sur- 
vey from the heights he had made out the high 
plateau which he and Stoodles and Bob Vilett 
had once crossed in joining their friends on 
the other side of the island. 

^HUs due north, and it looks to be only about 
ten miles distant,’^ calculated Dave. know 
that from the plateau we could see all over the 


160 


ADIUFT ON THE PACIFIC 


island. If I could reach it, and the Swallow 
has arrived, I certainly could make her out. 
Yes, I must try to get to the plateau.” 

Dave used due haste in descending the cliff 
by the route he had come. He had the idea in 
his mind of trying to mend up the yawl on the 
beach. Then he would wait for dark and skirt 
the coast in the direction of the plateau. 

He was glad when he got down to the shore 
bluffs. He planned how he would fix the 
hole in the side of the yawl and make some 
oars. 

will make an inspection of the boat,” he 
thought, going towards it across the beach. 

did not notice it particularly, and maybe it 
isnT much damaged.” 

The yawl lay keel upwards, as it had 
landed with him and as he had left it earlier 
in the morning. 

As he g fc nearer he saw that several boards 
were badxy sprung. They were, however, all 
above the waterline. 

think I can manage to make it seaworthy 
for a little cruise,” said Dave. ‘‘Wonder if 
she is damaged inside.” 

Dave stooped, put his hand under the side 
of the yawl, and gave the boat a tremendous 
lift and a push. 


THE OUTCAST’S SECRET 


161 


Over she went, but to disclose a fact that 
gave Dave a decided shock. 

Three natives had lain in hiding under the 
yawl. They arose simultaneously. Three 
spears were leveled at Dave, and he knew he 
was a prisoner. 


CHAPTER XIX 


A DAY OP ADVENTURES 

The three spears held Dave in a circle. 
The spearsmen advanced them nearer and 
nearer till they hemmed Dave in dangerously. 
He had placed his own weapon on the ground 
while attending to the boat, so he was entirely 
unarmed. 

Dave could do nothing but quietly await the 
further action of his captors. They regarded 
him fiercely. Then there was a confab among 
them. 

Two of them finally dropped their spears, 
leaving their companion to guard Dave. They 
went to the nearest bushes and secured some 
stringy vines of great strength. 

They tied Dave’s arms behind him. One of 
the men pointed west, in which direction the 
priest had gone. It seemed that the native 
village was located west. 

A second of the trio dissented from the 
proposition made. He pointed down the shore 
162 


A DAY OF ADVEYTUEES 163 

a bit and talked volubly. Then the two went 
away, giving some directions to Dave’s guard. 

The latter, prodding Dave with the spear, 
made him go towards the shore bluffs. He 
forced him up an incline. There he secured a 
thick flexible vine, passed it through Dave’s 
arms, and tied the other end around a tree. 

He then threw himself on the ground and 
reclined there lazily. 

From where he was Dave could look down 
the beach. He comprehended that the savages 
had come across the yawl and had probably 
seen his footmarks. They had calculated he 
would return and had hidden under the boat. 
Now, judging from the actions of the two 
natives down the beach, they were hunting for 
other footmarks. ^ 

At least it looked so to Dave. They seemed 
to locate some disturbance in the sand like a 
trail. They followed it up this course, which 
took them finally out of view of Dave. 

Dave’s guard reclined at the edge of the 
bluff, looking out at the sea. His spear lay be- 
side him. 

wish he would go to sleep,” thought Dave. 
^^With time given I’d bargain to get free from 
these flimsy bonds, if I had to gnaw through 
this big vine with my teeth.” 


164 


ADEIFT 0 ^ THE PACIFIC 


The native, however, had no idea of going to 
sleep. He turned regularly about every two 
minutes to look at his captive. 

Suddenly Dave saw the man start to rise 
up as if in great alarm. A look of horror 
was in his gleaming eyes. With a yell he 
toppled backwards. The amazed Dave saw 
him roll down the bluff incline. The native 
turned over and over, his head struck a great 
rock in the way with a fearful click. The 
blood flew from the wound and deluged the 
native’s face and he lay like one dead, his body 
suspended over a bent sapling. 

^Why,” exclaimed the startled Dave, ‘^what 
made him do that? Mercy!” 

A lithe, sinuous form cut the air, coming 
from the thick shrubbery just back of Dave. 
It landed where the native had sat. Dave un- 
derstood now. It was a panther. 

His blood ran cold as the animal, disap- 
pointed of its expected prey, turned quickly, 
facing him. From former experiences on the 
island Dave knew that he confronted a foe 
dangerous and bloodthirsty in the extreme. 

The native panther was feared by the 
natives greatly. It was a small animal, but 
ferocious to a degree and enormously strong 
jn forefeet and teeth. 


A DAY OF ADVENTURES 165 

Dave, bound, unarmed, felt himself com- 
pletely at the mercy of the animal. He 
shrank back, naturally, as it began to describe 
a semicircle. It crept low to the ground, ut- 
tering a harsh, hissing snarl. Its eyes were 
fixed intently on its intended victim. 

Dave watched the fatal circle narrow. The 
panther came to a pause, a crouch. It shot 
up from the ground. 

Dave had prepared for this first onset. He 
realized, however, that, helpless as he was, his 
agility could not eventually save him. 

The youth made a leap as the panther 
sprang at him. Through a remarkable cir- 
cumstance Dave^s rush drew the big vine out. 
The panther met it coming up, was caught 
across the breast, and was sent hurtling back 
violently. 

It fell to the ground, Dave ran at it. He 
ventured boldly, for the chances of escape were 
desperate. Dave delivered one kick at the 
prostrate animal. His foot partly landed in 
its gaping mouth. 

^^IFs incredible !” cried Dave. 

He was lost in wonderment. That resolute 
kick had worked marvels. As Dave looked at 
the ground he saw several teeth there and a 
trail of blood. Their owner had rolled back 


166 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


and had gone over the bluff as the native had 
gone, uttering several frightful snarls. 

‘^Will it come back again?” panted Dave. 
“A surprising adventure — I can hardly realize 
it. Yes, it is returning — no, human voices. 
Men, mates!” shouted Dave, ^ffhis way, this 
way !” 

With anxious heart elate Dave had caught 
the voice of more than one person. Then a 
word in English, and he recognized the voice 
of Daley. 

‘^Hello, where are you?” responded Daley’s 
tones, their owner beating his way through 
the dense foliage. 

“Young Fearless! We’ve found him,” he 
cried, staring hard. “Turned up again, eh, 
lad?” 

“I’m mighty glad you have,” said Dave 
rapidly. “What, the three of you, and safe 
and sound?” he added, as two others joined 
their leader. 

“We were looking for you,” announced 
Daley. “Here, one of you has a pocket knife. 
Cut the lad loose.” 

“You were looking for me?” repeated Dave 
wonderingly. 

“To be sure,” nodded Daley. “We washed 
ashore last night all safe and trim, as you see.” 


A DAY OF ADVENTURES 16 Y 

^^Yes, but not near here, for I looked for a 
trace of you,” said Dave. 

“No, it must have been a good ten miles to 
the south, lad. We made this way, and saw 
those natives get under that boat. We were 
unarmed and hid. When those two up the 
beach left you in charge of the fellow here, we 
rounded into the bluffs and searched for you. 
Where is the fellow, anyhow 

Dave narrated what had taken place. 
Daley looked pretty serious. 

“WeTe in a nest of them, it seems,” he re- 
marked, taking up the spear belonging to 
Dave^s guard. “Come on, mates ; let^s make a 
tight run for it while the coast is still clear 
of them.” 

Daley’s plan was a simple one and Dave al- 
lowed it to prevail. It was to get north as 
fast and far as they could before they were 
discovered by more natives. 

“They’re thick back of the coast, just here- 
abouts,” said Daley. “We heard their yells 
several times in our jaunt down shore, and 
saw several of them. Keep in the cover of the 
bluff, and let us try to round that cape yon- 
der. From what I remember here before, the 
cyclone pretty well cleaned out the north end 
of the island.” 


168 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


‘‘That is true,” said Dave, “and the natives 
probably shun it on that account.” 

Their progress was very satisfactory. The 
cape that Daley had alluded to was reached 
about two hours later. 

It presented a sheer high wall to the sea and 
gave a fine view of the island for miles around. 
It was wooded to within about fifty feet of the 
edge. 

They were all terribly tired out and badly 
torn with thorns and brambles. As they came 
out into clear space, Daley and his companions 
threw themselves down on the ground, nearly 
exhausted. 

Dave, starting to follow their example, 
paused, uttered a great shout, and ran to the 
sheer edge of the cliff. 

“Hello, there — what\s doing, mate?” chal- 
lenged Daley, in some wonder. 

“See! see! see!” cried Dave, pointing down 
at the sea with shining eyes — “the Swallow F' 



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“ LOOK AT THE HIGH CLIFF, CAPTAIN,” URGED BOB. — Page 169 . 
Adrift on the Pacific. 






CHAPTER XX 


ON BOARD THE “SWALLOW^’ 

^^Captain Broadbeam, come here, please/^ 

<<Why, lad, whaPs the matter 

Bob Vilett had spoken in a way that might 
well have excited the surprise of the com- 
mander of the steamer. 

For over ten minutes Bob had stood at the 
side, gazing through a spyglass landwards. 
Now of a sudden the glass dropped in his 
nerveless hand. Bob began to tremble, and 
he had called to the friendly captain like one 
in distress. 

^^Those natives up to some more high jinks 
said Broadbeam, coming up to Bob. 

^^No, no, captain! Look — look! Quick, 

captain V’ 

“Toplights and gaff sails, what’s this now?” 
demanded Broadbeam, as Bob extended the 
glass, looking pale and agitated. 

“Look at the high cape cliff, captain,” urged 
Bob. “See if I’m mistaken.” 

169 


no 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^‘Dave Fearless!’’ fairly roared the old sea 
veteran the minute he put the glass to his 
eyes. 

‘^You are sure, captain?” cried Bob, in great 
excitement. 

The captain had been staggered at his sur- 
prising first view through the spyglass. Now 
he looked again. 

‘^Dave! Ah, a glad sight,” he went on. 
‘^Some men with him — look like sailors. Fear- 
less! Amos Fearless! Where is he? Old 
friend, your son is alive !” 

Those of the crew in sight and hearing 
stared quite wonderingly at their captain. 
They had rarely seen him so moved as when he 
ran towards the cabin, shouting the name of 
his friend. 

‘^What is that?” said the old diver, coming 
up the cabin stairs. 

‘^Dave is alive.” 

‘^My son alive,” cried Amos Fearless, turn- 
ing white, and in a momentary weakness hold- 
ing to a rail for support. 

“Yes, he is — ashore there.” 

“Oh, are you sure?” 

“Go look for yourself. Hurrah !” 

Captain Broadbeam was beside himself with 
genuine gladness. 


ON BOARD THR ^'SWALLOW'^ 


171 


He clamped his big paw of a hand across his 
old friend’s arm and fairly dragged him across 
the deck. 

^^Yes, it’s Dave,” cried the happy father, tak- 
ing a look through the spyglass. Then he 
handed it back to Bob Vilett. The old diver 
turned his face away. It was wet with tears 
of thankfulness and joy. 

Captain Broadbeam moved about the deck 
too excited to stand still. 

‘T felt it in my bones ! Didn’t I say it all 
along?” he spoke. ^^Didn’t I stick to it that a 
lad born to the sea would find a way out of it? 
Below there, Adams,” he hailed to the engi- 
neer, ^^how’s she working?” 

^^Bad, sir; mortal bad,” reported the engi- 
neer. 

There was something serious the matter 
with the Swallow. There had been since the 
night previous. 

Dave Fearless had not been missed from the 
ship until that morning. Then they had 
searched everywhere for him. It became 
patent after an investigation that he had been 
swept overboard. 

There was little chance to look for him. 
The storm that had given Dave and his refu- 
gee friends, Daley and the others, such a ter- 


172 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


rible experience, had dealt tlie stanch little 
steamer a severe blow. 

There had been times during the tempest 
when the Sivallotv was thrown about like an 
eggshell in the grasp of a giant. She was 
cast on her beam-ends more than once. 

The steamer outrode the storm just in time. 
She could not have stood another hour of that 
terrible tossing about and wrenching. 

With a grave face Adams had called Cap- 
tain Broadbeam down into the engine room to 
see the damage that had been done. 

The engine was fairly out of commission. 
One driving rod was bent badly, some of the 
minor mechanism was clear out of gear. 

‘TPs land and a quiet harbor mighty quick, 
sir,” reported the experienced engineer, “or 
trouble if another storm strikes us on the open 
sea.” 

“You are right, Adams,” said the captain, 
after due investigation. “We must make 
land somehow, somewhere. The Swalloiv is 
badly crippled.” 

“You see, sir,” observed Adams, “I have 
rigged up a temporary makeshift for a driv- 
ing rod. It may give out at any moment un- 
der strain. If we can work our way easy like 
and crawl to ha]*borage, in a few days with 


ON BOAJIB THE ^^SWALLOW’' 


173 


some blacksmi thing we might forge or rig up 
some new parts.’’ 

It was just after this that land was dis- 
covered, and Stoodles came into a general con- 
sultation as an authority that they were surely 
approaching the Windjammers’ Island. 

Their former experience in these same 
waters was of value now. Adams advised 
that they get close to the shore and line it, 
looking for a temporary harbor. 

Bob Vilett had a valuable suggestion to 
make. He was in a pretty gloomy mood over 
the unknown fate of his chum, for whom they 
had spent two hours with all the small boats 
out. 

Bob, however, had to stick to his duty. It 
nearly broke his heart to witness the prostra- 
tion of the old diver, but as he thought of 
something, he went to the captain. 

‘‘When we were here before, captain,” he 
said, “you remember the natural harbor where 
we found the old derelict vessel?” 

“Why,” said Broadbeam, “the very thing. 
Thanks for the suggestion, lad. If we can 
reach that spot we are safe from any bother 
from the natives here and from any storm that 
may come up. Tell xAdams.” 

The Swalloto had been discovered by the 


lU 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


natives about an hour later. These came to 
the beach in several places. They made a 
great ado. Whole processions came into view. 
At one place they brought down a covered 
platform borne by four men. Upon this plat- 
form was a great earthen pot filled with some 
smoking material. 

‘AVhat are they up to, Pat?^’ the captain 
asked Stoodles. 

^‘Begorra, it’s the ould magic spell of their 
high-priests to send us bad luck,” answered 
the Irishman. 

The various incantations of the natives 
went on nearly under the eyes of those on 
board of the Bw allow for some time. Then 
the visitations to the beach ceased. It was 
now about half an hour later that Bob Vilett 
had discovered Dave Fearless on the cape cliff 
where the young diver and his three com- 
panions had just arrived. 

While Mr. Fearless was gazing anxiously 
ashore and Bob was tracing every movement 
of his distant chum through the spyglass. Cap- 
tain Broadbeam was giving quick orders to 
his men. 

A boat was to go ashore at once and a signal 
given from the deck of the Sioallow that Dave 
would understand. 


ON BOARD THE ALLOW” 


175 


^^DonT delay, my friends,” the excited 
Stoodles kept urging the sailors. “Let us get 
into action before my former subjects come 
into sight again.” 

All was ready, boat, men, and weapons, to 
start to the succor of Dave, when Bob Vilett 
uttered a shout of dismay. 

“Oh, captain,” he cried, running up to the 
commander of the Stcallow, “iEs too late.” 

“How’s this? What do you mean?” de- 
manded the captain. 

He snatched the glass from Bob’s hand and 
took a look himself. Then he uttered a hollow 
groan. 

Dave and the others were still visible on the 
cliff, but over a hundred natives had suddenly 
swarmed about them. 

As he looked, the captain saw these sur- 
round Dave and the others. They were seized, 
bound, and carried off into the forest before 
his very eyes. 


CHAPTER XXI 


THE ISLAND HARBOR 

The great joy that the friends of Dave Fear- 
less had experienced, at discovering him al- 
most in reach, now gave way to great anxiety 
as he seemed lost to them again. 

Bob Vilett was summoned to the engine 
room by his superior. Amos Fearless went 
back to the cabin, looking dejected and sad. 

Captain Broadbeam fumed secretly. He 
paced the deck rapidly, going through con- 
siderable mental perturbation. 

Pat Stoodles saw the expedition ashore 
abandoned. 

He knew the captain’s fiery moods and kept 
out of the way for a spell. When the Swalloiv 
turned her head directly north he approached 
Broadbeam. 

‘^It’s on your way you’d be going, captain 
dear?” mildly observed Stoodles. 

^‘Don’t you see I am?” challenged Broad- 
beam petulantly. 


176 


THE ISLAND HARBOR 


111 


disturbed ye are, I see,’^ said the 
plausible Irishman. ^^Ochone, ye may well 
be. Wirra-wirra! that fine broth of a boy, 
Dave Fearless, abandoned to his fate. 
Deserted by his friends.’’ 

^‘Who’s abandoning him, who’s deserting 
him?” flamed out the captain. 

^^That’s it. I was asking your honor,” said 
Stoodles innocently. ‘‘Of course ye have 
plans to assist the lad. I know the island. 
Wasn’t I their king once on a time? Make me 
your confidant, captain dear. AVhat’s your 
plans?” 

“I’ll show those bloodthirsty villains soon,” 
declared Broadbeam, shaking his ponderous 
fist at the island. “I’m going around to an- 
chor in the cove at the northwest end of the 
island.” 

“I see,” nodded Stoodles thoughtfully. “A 
foine spot. And then, captain?” 

“Every man aboard armed to the teeth, and 
let those savages look out. My duty is first to 
my ship. When I have her safe at anchorage 
it’s Dave Fearless, first, last, and all the time.” 

“Captain,” observed Stoodles enthusiasti- 
cally, “you’re a jewel !” 

Stoodles went apart by himself, smiling and 
apparently intensely satisfied. He seemed 


178 . ADRIFT 0^ THE PACIFIC 


planning something all the rest of the time it 
took to go about one-third around the island. 

The sheltered cove into which the Bwalloyp 
finally ran was located at a remote and un- 
frequented part of the island. 

It was here that on a former occasion a dere- 
lict had lain shut in, undiscovered for a long 
time, by great forests and guarded by steep 
cliffs towmrds the sea. 

The ravages of a great cyclone were visible 
here and there as the Sivallow neared its port. 
The steamer ran under a network of vines that 
hung like a curtain across the front of this 
singular cove. 

The first thing done, once a permanent 
mooring was made, was to carry a portable 
forge ashore. Adams, the engineer, selected 
two of the crew who had some knowledge of 
blacksmithing. 

^AVeTl have the Sioallow in taut trim inside 
of three days, captain,” Adams promised. 

‘^Good,” nodded the commander. leave 
it to you. Now then, to adopt some plan to 
reach Dave Fearless.” 

The boatswain came up and touched his cap 
respectfully. 

‘What is it, Drake?” inquired Broadbeam. 

“That man, Gerstein.” 


THE ISLAND HARBOR 


179 


^^Well, what about him?^^ 

^^Uneasy, sir. I’ve been watching him 
closely. I found a package of food and a knife 
and a pistol hidden under his bunk this morn- 
ing.” 

^^You did, eh?” muttered the captain 
thoughtfully. ‘Preparing to bolt, you think?” 
know it.” 

‘^Won’t do,” advised Broadbeam tersely. 
‘Hjock him up.” 

^Hn irons, captain?” 

^^NTo, the hold storeroom is safe and sound. 
Put him there. We mustn’t let the man es- 
cape until we know what he knows.” 

Captain Broadbeam had a long talk with 
Amos Fearless. He decided that early the 
next morning they would make up a strong 
party, well armed, and march on the native 
town of the Windjammers. 

^^Come in here, my friends,” said the cap- 
tain to Pat Stoodles and Bob Vilett, at the end 
of his talk with Mr. Fearless. 

He then told them of his decision. Stoodles 
did not say much. Bob was pleased and 
eager to start on the foray. 

hope we shall be in time,” sighed Dave’s 
father anxiously. ^^Those natives may even 
now have killed their captives,” 


180 


ADRIFT Ol:^ THE PACIFIC 


You’re wrong there, Mr. Fearless,” de- 
clared Stoodles, with confidence. ^^Listen, sir. 
Wasn’t I once king of that fine lot of natives? 
Don’t I know their wavs? Very well, my 
friends, if you will look at the moon to-night 
you will find it on the lasht quarther. The 
Windjammers never kill a prisoner except 
from a new moon up to a full moon.” 

‘Hs that true, Pat?” asked Captain Broad- 
beam. 

^^True to the letther, sir — who knows bet- 
ther than I, who have had experience? Yes, 
sir, they won’t harm the lad or his comrades 
for over a week at the least, unless in a fight 
or an accident. Those natives who came out 
on the big rock had come there to -cast another 
spell on the ship. Dave couldn’t get away sea- 
wards without dropping into the sea. He 
couldn’t fight half the tribe. He’s given in 
quietly, as we saw, sir. They’ll shut him up ; 
that’s all for the present. We’ll get him out ; 
that’s all for the future. Now, captain dear, 
I’ve got something of a favor to ask of you.” 

“All right, Pat, what is it?” 

“Don’t march down on the Windjammers. 
I’ve said nothing against your plans until the 
right moment.” 

“Well?” asked Broadbeam. 


THE ISLAND HAPiBOR 


181 


a bettlier plan than your own to offer. 
Listen, sir — the most you can muster is half 
a dozen able men.” 

‘‘A dozen, fully.” 

^‘And leave the ship unguarded? All right, 
captain, call it a dozen. What then? You 
march on a thousand natives. No, no, sir,” 
said Stoodles, shaking his head solemnly, 
^ffhey would wipe you off the face of the earth, 
first move. Don’t be foolish, sir. Let me 
thry.” 

«Try what?” 

^‘To rescue me young friend, Dave Fearless. 
Captain, you remember how I hocused them 
and came it over them when you were here 
before?” 

^Wes, Pat, I have a very vivid memory of 
some of your whimsical doings,” answered the 
captain, smiling. 

“Then one favor, captain: loan me Bob 
Vilett and a few traps I need. Give me two 
days to bring back Dave Fearless.” 

Amos Fearless looked anxious, the captain 
undecided. 

“Do it, captain,” urged Bob Vilett eagerly. 
“I have great faith in Mr. Stoodles.” 

The captain refiected seriously for a mo- 
ment or two. He glanced at the old diver. 


182 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


The latter nodded. Anything that might 
affect his son’s welfare appealed to him 
strongly. 

^^Do it, then,’^ said Captain Broadbeam, 
‘^only, remember, you two take your own 
risks/^ 


t 


CHAPTER XXII 


THE HOUSE OF TEARS 

“Hooray!” said Pat Stoodles, as soon as 
they were out of the presence of Captain 
Broadbeam and the diver. 

“All right now, eh?” insinuated Bob curi- 
ously. 

“Shure I am. Now, my friend, I’ve done 
you the honor of selecting you to go with me. 
You’re willing?” 

“Try me,” cried Bob stanchly. 

“The first thing,” said Stoodles, “is to see 
Doctor Barrel!.” 

“What ! You’re not thinking of taking him 
with us?” cried Bob. 

“Not at all,” responded Stoodles, “but I do 
want to take with me something he has got.” 

“And what’s thht, Pat?” asked Bob. 

“His phonnygraph.” 

“Aha, I see,” cried Bob, grinning. “The 
time you visited your subjects before you 
worked on their superstitious fears by rubbing 

phosphorus on your face. This time ” 

183 


184 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


‘H’m reckoning on giving them a spaach, lad. 
Lave that end to me. What I want you to do 
is to make another of those paper balloons you 
sent up into the air the Fourth of July out 
at sea.’^ 

^‘Sure,” said Bob; ‘‘a dozen, if you like.’^ 

“No, make two, for one might get disabled. 
Have you any of the fireworks left?^^ 

“No, but I can make almost any kind of a 
sizzer with powder and fuses the purser will 
let me have.’’ 

“All right,” approved Stoodles. “I may 
want to send up a balloon at the proper mo- 
ment. If I do, I want it to send out lots of 
sparks when it gets aloft.” 

“You leave all that to me, Mr. Stoodles,” 
said Bob. “I’ll guarantee a perfect job.” 

“It’s all for Dave’s sake, lad, so I know you 
will,” declared Stoodles. 

The eccentric but loyal Irishman now went 
to the stateroom occupied by Doctor Barrell. 

“Docther,” he said, entering the presence of 
the old scientist, “I’d be telling you some- 
thing.” 

Doctor Barrell was very busy examining 
some seaweed specimens he had fished up in 
the cove, but he graciously received the visitor, 
who was quite a favorite with him. 


THE HOUSE OF TEAES 


185 


^^Speak right out, Mr. Stoodles,” he said. 

Pat narrated his plans in behalf of Dave 
Fearless. Doctor Barrell was interested. 

“And how can I help you?’^ he inquired, 
when Stoodles had finished talking. 

“Docther dear, it^s the loan of your phonny- 
graph I’d be wanting.” 

Doctor Barrell looked serious. He had a 
remarkably fine phonograph outfit, receiver 
and transmitter attachments, and all up to 
date. 

This he greatly valued, for he was accus- 
tomed to talk his scientific deductions into 
a receiver, preserving the records for future 
reference when he got back to the United 
States. 

“Tell me about what you want to reach, Mr. 
Stoodles,” said the kindly old fellow, “and I’ll 
see if I can fix you out properly.” 

Stoodles explained his scheme. After that 
he was shut up with the doctor for several 
hours. Mlien he rejoined Bob his face was 
beaming. 

“It’s all right, lad,” he reported. “Ah, but 
a wise old fellow is Docther Barrell. It’ll be 
amazing what we are going to do to the na- 
tives.” 

It was just before dusk tiiat evening when 


186 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Stoodles and Bob left the Swalloio. They 
each carried a good-sized parcel. The captain 
had seen to it that they were furnished with 
small-arms. 

The ship’s yawl took them out of the cove 
and landed them about five miles down shore, 
the boatswain in charge. 

^Ht’s understood, then,” said Drake, “that 
we be here again with the boat at six, twelve, 
and six to-morrow?” 

“If we’re alive and well,” answered 
Stoodles, “you’ll find us on hand on one of 
those three occasions.” 

“That has saved us a long, hard tramp,” 
said Bob, shouldering his load as they started 
inland. 

“Two-thirds of the journey, lad, if the na- 
tive town is where I think it is,” answered 
Stoodles. “Now, everything depends on get- 
ting to the town and into it without being 
seen.” 

“Yes,” assented Bob, “and it may prove a 
hard task.” 

“Not if you do exactly as I say,” declared 
Stoodles. “Just follow me. I know all the 
short cuts.” 

The journey was not a pleasant one. There 
was no beaten path to follow. They had to 


THE HOUSE OF TEAES 


167 


breast their way at places through whole acres 
of thorny bushes. At other places they had 
some steep rocks to climb. 

They rested frequently. It was about two 
hours later when Stoodles pressed through the 
last canes of a great brake with an expression 
of intense satisfaction. 

^^The hardest part of our tramp is over and 
done with, lad,” he announced. 

^‘That’s good news,” said Bob, who was 
pretty tired. 

^‘Now you rest here till I get up into a tree 
and take a peep in a certain direction.” 

Stoodles selected a high, lonely tree near at 
hand, and was soon up among its loftiest 
branches. He came down speedily. 

“IFs all right. Bob,” he stated. mile 
more and we will be at the edge of the town.” 

^^The new town?” asked Bob. ‘^The old one 
was destroyed by the cyclone, you know.” 

‘^Yes, the new town. It^s not far away. I 
can tell by the lights.” 

It was now, as they reached a moderately 
level plateau, that they found paths evidently 
used regularly by the natives. 

One of these lay right through a large field 
of fiowers that resembled poppies. These ap- 
peared to be under cultivation. 


188 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^^WhaPs the flower garden for?’’ asked Bob. 

‘‘These are the royal flowers, lad,” explained 
the Irishman. “They use them for royal 
celebrations and funerals. Bad cess to it! If 
we should be found here by the natives.” 

“Why?” inquired Bob. 

“Taboo. No one is allowed here except the 
women who give their life to tending to the 
flowers, unless by direct permission of the 
native king.” 

“Well,” observed Bob quizzically, “you had 
ought to be able to get a free pass, seeing that 
you was king once.” 

Stoodles chuckled as if some pleasant idea 
was suggested to his mind. 

“I’ll be king again,” he observed. “I’ve got 
to be. ’Tis only for an hour maybe, but Dave 
Fearless and I want to make that ten thousand 
dollars.” 

“What ten thousand dollars?” asked Bob 
eagerly, as Stoodles paused in some confusion. 

“You’d better ask Dave that,” suggested 
Stoodles. 

“Oh, I know what you are hinting at,” said 
Bob. “It’s some schemes concerning those 
two boxes Dave got at Minotaur Island.” 

“Ah, is it now?” said Stoodles, with an ex- 
pression of vacancy on his face. 


THE HOUSE OF TEAES 


189 


am sure it is,” persisted Bob, ^^aud I 
know what is in those boxes.” 

‘^Hear him! Well, well!” commented 
Stoodles. 

^Ht^s a little printing outfit. Pat, what are 
you and Dave going to mix up these natives 
with a printing outfit for? Won’t you tell 
me?” 

^^Lad,” pronounced Stoodles solemnly, “that 
is a dark and deadly saycret for the present.” 

Bob had to be satisfied with this. He fol- 
lowed his guide in silence. Stoodles halted. 

“Do you see that old building yonder?” he 
asked of his companion. 

“Yes,” nodded Bob, curiously regarding a 
rude broad hut occupying an elevated space 
just beyond the flower field. 

“Well, take my bundle. That’s it. Now 
don’t sthir till I come out. Crouch down 
among these bushes. I’ve got to get into that 
building to make m}^ plans good.” 

“What is it, anyhow?” inquired Bob. 

“They call it the House of Tears,” was the 
rather singular reply of Stoodles. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


READY FOR ACTION 

“I WONDER what he has gone in there for?” 
thought Bob Vilett, as Stoodles disappeared 
in the direction of the House of Tears. 

Bob had not long to wait. Stoodles came 
back as silently as he had gone. 

“Aisy, lad!” he warned. ‘There’s people 
about.” 

“I don’t see any.” 

“In the pagoda yonder. There’s a dozen or 
more mourners, all widows.” 

“Oh, I understand why it is called the 
House of Tears now,” said Bob. 

“I was in on them with a stumble. By good 
luck the lights were low for one thing, and 
they were all given up to their groaning and 
mourning. Well, I got these two, anyhow.” 

“Two what?” interrogated Bob. “Oh, I 
see,” he added, as he made out two curious 
garments in the hands of his companion. 

Spreading one out at a time, Stoodles 
showed Bob what they were. 

190 


EEADY FOR ACTION 


191 


^^Any royal mourner,’^ he explained, ‘^vears 
one of these constantly for a full month after 
the death of a relative. They are taboo all 
that time. They must not be hindered. They 
are free to go where they choose.” 

^^Good,” commented Bob, ‘They’ll help us 
out, then, won’t they?” 

“Yes. Get into this one, lad ; it’s the short- 
est,” said Stoodles. 

The garment was of one piece, covering a 
person from head to foot. Its top was a cap 
with holes for the eyes only. 

When the two friends were arrayed in the 
garments they presented queer figures. Each 
carried his bundle under its ample folds. 

The next half-hour was an interesting one 
for Bob. He simply followed Stoodles. 
Somehow he could not help but have confi- 
dence in the whimsical old fellow. For one 
thing, Stoodles certainly knew his ground well 
from experience. Besides that, he had been 
successful in carrying his point when he had 
before visited the native toAvn when they 
were marooned on the island by the Raven 
crowd. 

It was now past midnight. As they pro- 
gressed Bob could see that they were nearing 
a lot of habitations. 


192 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


For the most part the native village was 
made up of squalid-looking huts. 

Here and there, however, were some more 
pretentious structures. So far they had not 
met a single person. 

^^The palace, the home of the king, that 
same,” said Stoodles, as they paused near the 
largest building they had yet seen. 

^^WhaCs the programme?” asked Bob. 

^^You see that little pagoda attached be- 
hind?” 

Bob nodded affirmatively. 

^^That is the council temple. I must get in 
there.” 

‘Ht looks easy,” said Bob. ‘‘Those sides of 
matting are not hard to break through.” 

“No, but the place is guarded day and 
night by as many as six natives,” explained 
Stoodles. “They sleep all around the cur- 
tained dais that holds the royal throne. Lad, 
I must get to that throne.” 

“All right,” said Bob. “And what am I to 
do?” 

“Listen very carefully. You see that big 
rock in the center of the square yonder?” 

“With a great bowl-like thing at the top of 
it?” asked Bob. 

“Yes. That is the public tribune, or place 


READY FOR ACTION 


193 


where the king’s messengers make announce- 
ments to the people. That big bowl is filled 
with a perfumed Avater once a year, and the 
people pass under it while the high priest of 
the tribe throws a few drops over each of 
them.” 

“Go ahead,” said Bob, “this is kind of in- 
teresting.” 

“Now then,” pursued Stoodles, “I have 
planned out just what I want to have you do. 
Don’t make any miss, lad.” 

“I’ll make no miss — you just instruct me,” 
said Bob. 

“You are to climb up into that boAvl. It’s 
perfectly dry now. It’s deep enough to hold 
you and all your traps. In just an hour you 
fire off a revolver, its full round of charges. 
Get your balloon ready. I’ll hand you up the 
phonnygraph. Start it up — that’s all.” 

“But what’s going to come of it all?” 

“You will soon see that.” 

“And w^hat am I to do when the perform- 
ance is over?” demanded Bob. 

“I’ll see that you are properly taken care 
of,” declared Stoodles. 

“All right,” said Bob. “I suppose you know 
what you are about, but it’s a pretty elaborate 
programme you are laying out.” 


194 


ADKIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


I know how to hocus these supersti- 
tious people, that’s said Stoodles lightly. 
‘H’ve done it before, you know.’’ 

Stoodles took Bob over to the public trib- 
une. Everybody in the village seemed to be 
asleep. They ^vere apparently unnoticed and 
undisturbed as they got the bundles up into 
the great bowl. 

Bob climbed in after. Stoodles gave him a 
few last words of direction. Then he started 
off to carry out his own part of the pro- 
gramme. 

The side of the great earthen bowl in which 
Bob now found himself was perforated all 
around the scalloped outer edges. Bob kept 
Stoodles in sight as long as he could by peer- 
ing through one of these. 

^Hle has gone in the direction of the royal 
council room,” thought Bob. “This is a queer 
go. I wonder how it will turn out? In an 
hour, he said — all right.” 

Bob looked at his watch, flashing a match 
for the purpose. Then he arranged the vari- 
ous paraphernalia that were to take part in 
Pat Stoodles’ programme. 

He got the phonograph placed to suit him 
and ready for action at a moment’s notice. 
Bob also prepared one of the small paper bal- 


EEADY FOE ACTION 


195 


loons so he could light the alcohol sponge on 
the wire on its bottom without igniting the 
tissue paper. A perforated asbestos globe he 
had himself designed, enabled him to do this 
with facility. 

The native village slept. No sound broke 
the silence of the mystic midnight hour. 

Bob again consulted his watch. The hour 
prescribed by Stoodles had passed. 

^‘Everything must have worked smoothly 
with Pat,’’ thought the young engineer. “I’m 
due to start the ball rolling all right. Here 


CHAPTER XXIV 


IN THE ROYAL PALACE 

Bang, bang, bang, bang! 

Such a vivid, unfamiliar racket had seem- 
ingly never before disturbed the native town 
of the Island Windjammers. 

The whole settlement seemed to wake up at 
once. Bob Vilett was fairly startled at the 
result of his sharp rapid fusillade. 

He had a heap to do, however, and he had 
no time to observe what was going on out- 
side. 

The balloon called first for Bob’s attention. 
The shots alone had not directed the excited 
natives to the public tribune. The balloon, 
rising majestically, centered all eyes on that 
central meeting-place. 

A hush of awe hung over the crowd. Bob 
started up the phonograph. 

He did not know what the little machine 
was saying. He could only surmise that it 
was grinding out a speech from Stoodles. 

196 


IN THE EOYAL PALACE 


197 


Loud and sonorous rang forth the tones of the 
fertile-minded Milesian. 

Bob, venturing to peer from the bowl that 
encased him, was truly amazed. 

Most of the crowM that had gathered stood 
perfectly still. Some of the more supersti- 
tious, at a sight of the strange balloon, had 
fallen prostrate in terror. 

The speech now coming forth from the 
phonograph had a w^onderful effect. It 
seemed to transfix the people. There w^as not 
a murmur, a stir, until the last word had is- 
sued from the phonograph. Then babel broke 
loose, the spot w^as deserted by magic. Men 
shouted, yelled, ran over each other in a 
pell-mell dash in the direction of the king’s 
palace. 

Bob tried hard to guess out the situation. 
He could only reason that the speech in the 
old familiar tones of their former king, coming 
from an unseen, mysterious source, had duly 
impressed the people. The shots, the balloon 
now dropping a vivid trail of sparks far aloft, 
had added to the general effect. 

suppose I’m due to w-ait here until 
further orders,” ruminated Bob. ^H’d like to 
know w^hat is going on in the palace, though.” 

Bob got restive thinking about this. The 


198 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


commotion and excitement around the palace 
were momentarily increasing. 

can be of no further use here/’ thought 
Bob. ^‘I don’t see how Stoodles is going to 
get me out of here without giving the natives 
a hint as to my agency in sending up the fire- 
works and playing the phonograph. I’m go- 
ing to get out of this; yes, I am.” 

Bob was an impatient, persistent sort of a 
fellow. Having made up his mind to leave 
his hiding-place, he promptly succeeded in get- 
ting out of the bowl and down onto the 
ground. 

‘H’m safe in this outlandish garment Pat 
gave me,” reasoned Bob, securing his belong- 
ings under its folds. ‘H’m going to join the 
procession and see what is going on.” 

Bob pressed on the outskirts of the howling, 
excited mob that surrounded the palace. Then 
he edged his way in among them. 

He found out that the robe he wore was 
indeed ^^taboo.” People made way for him. 
Thus proceeding. Bob got finally right up to 
the little pagoda that Stoodles had designated 
to him as the royal council room. 

Its entrance was choked and crowded with 
natives trying to enter. 

Bob kept working his way farther and 


m THE ROYAL PALACE 


190 


farther along. At last he squeezed past two 
great greasy sentinels and saw Pat Stoo- 
dles. 

The Milesian sat on a heap of skins next to 
a throne raised on a dais. Upon the throne it- 
self sat a dusky native. Bob decided, from his 
manner and the deference with which he was 
treated by the others, that he must be the 
king. 

All around were savages, more or less dec- 
orated in a way not common with the simple 
natives. 

These persons. Bob knew, must comprise the 
nobility and the high-priests of the tribe. 

Stoodles was speaking volubly, and seemed 
to take his honors and the situation in an easy, 
familiar way. 

Of course Bob could not understand the na- 
tive tongue, but he quickly saw that in some 
way the shrewd Milesian had got things on a 
most friendly basis with the tribe and its 
leaders. 

wish I could get nearer and attract his 
attention,” thought Bob. want him to 
know I have left the public square. ITl ven- 
ture it. Pat!” 

The next moment Bob Vilett was sorry he 
had spoken. He had not realized that to utter 


200 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


a word unbidden in the royal council room 
without royal permission was to court the 
severest public censure. 

Four guards grabbed him up in a moment. 
All those around the royal dais looked to- 
wards the present center of commotion in 
amazement. 

Bob struggled in the grasp of his fierce cap- 
tors, but w^as hampered by the bundles he car- 
ried. Suddenly one of the guards discovered 
he had shoes on. They tore aw ay the garment 
encircling him. Some hurried w-ords w^ere 
called out to the king. In stern tones that 
monarch responded. 

Bob could tell from the menacing manner of 
the guards that he w^as being borne aw^ay to 
punishment. 

^‘Stoodles! Pat StoodlesT^ he shouted at 
the top of his voice. 

^^Aha!” he heard Stoodles exclaim, and then 
the Milesian added w^ords in the native lan- 
guage. 

The guards looked amazed. They received 
a new order from the king. Bob wms carried 
to the foot of the dais. 

‘^Make a bow^,’’ suggested Stoodles, and Bob 
did so. Stoodles no longer w^ore the mourn- 
ing garb. That on Bob was riddled. 


IN THE EOYAL PALACE 


101 


all roight. I was soon coming after 
you,” said Stoodles. ^‘Everything is fixed.” 

“How fixed inquired the wondering Bob. 

“Don^t you see,” insinuated the smiling 
Stoodles, with a gracious wave of his hand, 
“nothing is too good for me or my friends?” 

“How did you work it?” asked Bob, feeling 
perfectly safe and^easy now. 

“That phonnygraph recited a great spaach 
of mine. It told the people that they would 
find their old king, myself, seated on the throne 
here. Why, lad, when they did find me I could 
have ousted the new king in a minute. I was 
magnanimous, though. I only asked some in- 
formation. I told him he could keep his 
throne in peace.” 

The king and his counselors stared at the 
twain as they conversed, but did not interrupt. 

“Whisht, lad!” continued Stoodles, with a 
chuckle. “They’ve given me some great in- 
formation.” 

“What is it?” asked Bob. 

“The Raven crowd are alive. I have found 
out where they are.” 

“Good!” said Bob. 

“I have threatened all kinds of fire gods and 
cyclone demons unless they set Dave Fearless 
free.” 


202 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


tliey?’^ asked Bob eagerly. 

^^Sliure they will. He’ll be here safe and 
sound in a few minutes. There’s the guards 
they sent for him now.” 

Some natives bearing spears came hurrying 
into the room. There arose a great excited 
jabber. Stoodles rose up in manifest disap- 
pointment. 

“What about Dave?” persisted Bob. 

“Ochone!” cried Pat Stoodles. “Dave has 
spoiled everything !” 

“Spoiled everything?” repeated Bob. 

“Yes ; Dave has escaped.” 


CHAPTER XXV 


THE CAPTIVES 

“Mr. Daley, you are a brave man.” 

“Glad of the compliment, Dave Fearless. I 
hope I deserve it.” 

“You certainly do,” asserted Dave warmly. 
“But where are Jones and Lewis?” 

Daley, who had flushed with pleasure at the 
handsome compliment bestowed by the young 
friend he was learning to like and respect, 
scowled and muttered angrily at this allusion 
to the companions who had been captured with 
them by the natives on the cape bluff. 

“They’re cowards, that’s what they are,” 
cried Daley angrily, “the miserable villains.” 

“Well, I hope they got away safely, any- 
how,” said Dave simply. 

“They don’t deserve it,” growled Daley. 
“Now then, lad, so far so good. But what 
next?” 

“That’s so,” remarked Dave Fearless. 
“What next, indeed?” 

It was the second day after their capture. 

203 


204 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


Dave and Daley were in a queer environment, 
to explain which it is necessary to go back to 
the hour when they were discovered on the 
cape bluff by the natives. 

Their great joy at the discovery of the Swal- 
low so near at hand off the island coast, had 
been quickly shadowed. 

As Dave’s anxious friends had seen through 
the spyglass from the deck of the steamer, the 
arrival of a large body of natives had put an 
end to the freedom of the young ocean diver 
and his companions. All four were sur- 
rounded and bound. 

Wliile some of the savages went on with 
their fetich ceremonies on the bluff to cast 
an evil spell on the Swalloto, the others 
marched the captives to the native town. 

There they were placed in a wretched hut, 
without any roof. The hut filled a cavity in 
the ground. About a dozen natives squatted 
on the surrounding level, and were thus ena- 
bled to keep the captives constantly in sight. 

The rest of that day and the next passed in 
this irksome confinement. The prisoners were 
given food and water, but the great vigilance 
of their guards was not relaxed. 

There was not the least opportunity af- 
forded to escape. 


THE CAPTIVES 


205 


Wlieu night came again, Da lev and the 
others went to sleep. They had become dis- 
heartened. Dave, however, never gave up. 
Escape was constantly in his mind. His 
chance came at midnight. 

Dave did not know it then, but Stoodles 
and Bob Vilett were responsible for the op- 
portunity afforded. 

Of a sudden, Dave caught the sounds of 
great commotion in the center of the native 
village, from which their prison place was 
quite remote. 

Some men came running by, shouting loudly 
to the guards. Dave was amazed to see the 
last two of these spring to their feet in great 
excitement. They babbled like frightened 
monkeys. Then, with frantic yells, they 
dashed away towards the village. 

It took Dave Fearless less than a minute 
to arouse his sleeping companions. It took 
less than another minute to show them that 
a golden opportunity for escape was pre- 
sented. 

It had not been a question of getting rid of 
their bonds at any time. These had grown 
loose from their twisting about during the 
day. It was the work of but a moment to cast 
them to the ground. 


206 


ADRIFT OJSr THE PACIFIC 


^^Tliere is not a single guard left,” said Dave. 
'^Something great and exciting is evidently 
happening at the native village. Work fast, 
men. We must get out of the enclosure some 
way quick as we can. Then a dash for the 
timber yonder.” 

Daley braced himself against the side wall 
of the enclosure. Dave mounted to his shoul- 
ders. As soon as he got safely over on the 
solid ground, Dave secured some poles. 
These he slanted down into the prison 
place. The others scrambled up them with 
agility and had soon joined him. 

‘^WhaPs that?” demanded Daley suddenly. 
^^There it is again. No, gone. Something like 
a big fireball. The trees shut it out. Now 
then. Fearless, lead the way.” 

Daley had caught a momentary glimpse of 
the- balloon Bob Vilett had sent aloft. Had 
Dave seen this, it might have suggested the 
near proximity of friends from the Swalloio 
and have changed his plans. 

As it was, he, like his companions, had only 
one thought in view — to get to a safe distance 
before the guards might return, discover their 
absence, and arouse the tribe to a general pur- 
suit. 

The refugees were most fortunate in their 


THE CAPTIVES 


207 


movements for the next few hours. Dave had 
struck out due west. They soon passed all 
signs of habitations. 

It was two o’clock in the morning when they 
halted. The others lay down on the ground. 
Dave rested a few minutes. Then he arose and 
walked a short distance from the spot. 

He was intent on studying their surround- 
ings and learning what prospect lay beyond a 
sharp rise just in their course to the west. 

The moon shone brightly, but by spells 
clouds occasionally crossed the sky. Dave 
had to wait for these fitful illuminations to 
pick his course. 

Near to the top of the rise Dave halted, 
studied a slight glare, and then started on 
again with caution. 

fire,” he said. ‘A"es, I can smell smoke. 
Natives around a camp-fire? I guess that 
much. I must hurry back to the others and 
make back tracks double-quick.” 

Dave hastened along fast and recklessly. 
The sure proximity of enemies had startled 
him. 

‘What’s this?” he gasped suddenly, lost his 
footing, took a header, and plunged into com- 
plete darkness. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


A THRILLING ADVENTURE 

Dave had fallen down a hole covered with 
a thin network of branches and leaves. He 
knew it to be a trap, a pitfall, as he began his 
descent. There was a strong rancid smell 
about the spot, and the earth and the branches 
were thickly covered with grease. 

Dave went shooting, feet first, down a 
smooth slant. He landed with a shock. Then 
he rebounded, lost his balance, and fell flat. 

With a thrill he struck something moving, 
something that grunted, and tore away from 
him. It seemed covered with sharp, ugly 
bristles that had penetrated his hands like 
thorns. 

Dave sprang to his feet in alarm. Fierce 
echoing grunts filled the place, a pit of con- 
siderable size. He quickly drew out a match 
and flared it. 

‘‘A wild boar,” said Dave, and as he took 
in his situation he was swept off his feet with 
a new shock. 


208 


A THRILLING ADVENTURE 209 

The momentary illumination had fully ap- 
prized Dave of his environment. The pit was 
a trap, its entrance scented and greased to 
attract victims. 

A strong home-made rope was attached to a 
stake in its center. Its end was a loop. This 
loop now inclosed the neck of the boar, chok- 
ing and imprisoning it. In fact, the fierce an- 
imal was fairly frantic. 

The loop must have been placed in some 
way near to decoy food, tightening and secur- 
ing its victim at a touch. 

Now rushing around, the boar had swept 
Dave off his footing with the taut rope at 
which it struggled. It was upon him in an 
instant. Mad with pain and fright it tried to 
gore and crush him. 

Dave managed to roll and squirm beyond 
its reach. Breathless and bewildered, he hur- 
riedly drew out his pocket knife, opening its 
largest blade. 

With blazing eyes the maddened animal 
made another rush at Dave. He went flat. 
Its tusk penetrated a double thickness of his 
clothing. It tugged at him, panting, grunt- 
ing, squealing. 

Snip-snip — Dave was all mixed up in the 
rope, almost helplessly at the mercy of the 


210 


ADRIFT THE PACIFIC 


animal. He slashed out with the knife, but 
struck the rope instead of the boar. 

The rope parted. Dave was dragged over 
the pit floor, his clothing flrmly held by the 
spike-like tusk of the boar. 

He had to go along, whether he would or 
not. Dave grasped one bristly ear of the 
boar. 

‘^Whew !” he uttered, mind and body in such 
a turmoil that he could not realize what had 
happened till it was all over. 

The boar, freed, had made a dash out of the 
pit. It seemed to Dave that it took some 
avenue of exit different to the slant down 
which he himself had tumbled into the pit. 

At all events, he found himself in the open 
air, but borne along at a terrific rate of speed. 
He could hardly cling to the animal. 

He let go his grasp entirely as the boar 
sealed a rise and toppled over. Dave, how- 
ever, could not disengage his clothing. Then 
he was conscious of rolling over and over. The 
big animal seemed to fade from view in a swift 
flight. Dave’s head struck something and he 
lost his senses. 

When Dave came back to consciousness, 
there was iio mistake as to his situation. A 
single glance enlightened him. 


A THRILLING ADVENTURE 


211 


A dozen natives were working around a 
charcoal fire. They seemed to be hardening 
spear-heads, darts, and other weapons used by 
the Windjammers as weapons of war. 

Near by was a square hut. Its door stood 
open, the only aperture it contained. Its top 
was flat and sunken, and leaning up against 
the sides of this parapet-like inclosure Dave 
noticed numberless w^eapons. 

Dave lay flat on the ground, feet and hands 
both tied. The w ild boar w^as now’here in evi- 
dence. The natives w^ere going on with their 
ww*k. 

^‘Weapon-makers,” said Dave. “They seem 
to be finishing up their w ork, for the fire is 
going out.” 

Finally one of the men — there w^ere four of 
them — finished holding a lot of spear-ends in 
the fire. He came and looked at Dave, dis- 
covered his eyes w^ere open, and spoke some 
quick w^ords to him. 

Dave shook his head to indicate that he did 
not understand. A few minutes later all four 
men piled the various articles they had been 
burning upon a sort of litter. 

They seemed about to carry this into the 
hut. Each took a corner of the litter. 

Here something happened. Dave almost 


212 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


imagined bimself in a dream, as he saw a swift 
form burst from some bushes near at hand. 

It was Daley. He was armed with a great 
knotted club. Evidently he had been watch- 
ing for just this opportunity to interest him- 
self in behalf of his young friend and over- 
power his captors. 

The four natives employed at the litter had 
no time or chance to defend themselves. 

Whack! Whack! In turn two of them 
w^ent flat with broken heads. 

Whack! Whack! Their companions top- 
pled over, and the litter fell to the ground. 

‘‘Up with you,’’ roared the giant sailor, a 
cyclone of strength and resolution now. 

He grabbed up Dave bodily, ran towards 
the hut, dropped Dave, closed the door, barred 
it, and stood panting and trembling with ex- 
citement as he proceeded to release his com- 
panion. 

It was then that Dave Fearless made that 
fervid remark : 

“Mr. Daley, you are a brave man I” 


CHAPTEK XXVII 


THE POISONED DARTS 

It was after a brief, hurried conversation 
that Dave and Daley began an inspection of 
their surroundings. 

‘‘You ask what next?” said Dave, stirring 
about to ease his cramped limbs and snapping 
a match. “I think we had first better learn 
the condition of the enemy.” 

“Hey, don’t do that, lad !” called out Daley 
quickly, as Dave moved as if to open the 
barred door and peer out. 

“There’s no other way of finding out what 
we want to know,” said Dave. 

“Yes, there is !” declared Daley. “I just saw 
a ladder in a corner here. It leads to the roof, 
I think.” 

“Try it and see,” suggested Dave, which 
they did. 

“All right,” announced Daley, as they came 
out on a square roof like a platform, “we can 
get a famous idea of the rights of things from 
here.” 


213 


214 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Dave surveyed the prospect in great curi- 
*osity. The roof resembled an arsenal. There 
were hundreds and hundreds of all kinds of 
spears, pikes, and darts. 

Some were made up in bundles, some were 
leaning against the rising parapet as if slanted 
to catch the sunlight. In the center of the 
roof was a little raised platform. This held a 
lot of spears and darts, the heads resting 
in a big flat bowl full of some dark-colored 
liquid. 

^‘There they are,” announced Dave, glancing 
down at the spot where they had last seen his 
recent captors. 

Daley, too, viewed the quartette. Two of 
them had fully recovered from their injuries. 
One was squatted on the ground, holding his 
head between his knees and rocking to and fro 
and moaning. 

The fourth lay flat on the ground, still in- 
sensible, but the two able natives were rub- 
bing him to restore him to consciousness. 

^ We’re safe enough here,” remarked Daley, 
with some satisfaction. ‘^They can’t possibly 
get in — they won’t try.” 

‘‘No, we seem to have a whole armory at our 
disposal,” said Dave. “Stoodles taught me to 
use the dart pretty well,” 


THE POISONED DAPTS 


215 


could hold those fellows at bay for a 
long time.’’ 

^‘Just so,” nodded Dave, ^^provided we are 
not starved out. You know it is folly to think 
of staying here if we can possibly get away. 
They would soon bring an army to surround 
us, and then all chances of escape would be 
gone.” 

knocked them out once,” said Daley. 
^‘We’ll try it again if you say so. It would be 
equal chances if those two cowards, Jones and 
Lewis, hadn’t shown the white feather, after 
promising to join me and help me. The min- 
ute I pointed out the natives here to them, 
they cut stick for dear life.” 

“Well, they must take care of themselves, 
after this. Wait, we won’t venture out yet, 
Mr. Daley. See, the fellows have got in trim 
to challenge us.” 

The four natives were now fully recovered 
from Daley’s vigorous onslaught, it seemed. 

They consulted and chattered, with frequent 
glances up at the enemy in possession of their 
stronghold. 

One of them, evidently the leader of the 
group, Tvorked himself up into a perfect fever 
of excitement and rage. 

He approached nearer to the hut and 


216 


ADRIFT OA" THE PACIFIC 


shouted up a loud rigmarole to Dave and 
Daley. Suddenly wheeling around, he seized 
a dart from the heap on the litter. 

So rapid and expert was he that even 
though the man dodged, it pierced Daley^s cap 
through and through, showing its tremendous 
force by carrying the headgear fully twenty 
feet beyond the roof of the hut. 

‘^Aha, two can play at that game, my 
friend,” said Daley. 

He seized a dart and hurled it back at the 
men. They laughed at him derisively as it 
struck the ground lightly and harmlessly be- 
yond them. Even Dave had to smile at the 
sailor’s sheer clumsiness. 

Now the refugees had to duck down fre- 
quently, for all four of the natives began to 
shower the darts at them. 

‘H will try a hand,” suggested Dave at last. 
‘‘These on this little platform seem better 
made than the others. Hi-aa-ooa !” yelled 
Dave, standing up and poising the dart. He 
used the great war-cry of the tribe that Pat 
Stoodles had taught him in a moment of 
leisure. 

The minute Dave raised the weapon a 
frightful uproar arose from the four men. 
Their eyes seemed fixed in horror on the 


THE POISONED DARTS 


217 


poised dart. Like lightning they turned. In 
a flash they took to the nearest covert and hid 
themselves. 

“Well, well!’’ cried the amused Daley, 
“that’s a sudden change of front. Lad, there’s 
some meaning to that move.” 

“Why, yes,” said Dave thoughtfully; “they 
acted as if they were scared to death. I 
wonder why?” 

He paused and turned the dart over in his 
hand, studying it critically. 

“Say, Mr. Daley,” he observed, “do you sup- 
pose this is some peculiar kind of a weapon 
that they attach taboo or some of their queer 
outlandish superstitions to?” 

“Drop it !” all of a sudden almost screamed 
Daley. 

He dashed the dart from the hands of his 
companion in a most startling way. 

“Why, Mr. Daley ” began Dave in as- 

tonishment. 

“Don’t you ever go to feeling the points of 
those darts again, boy,” said Daley seriously. 
“Look here.” 

He drew Dave nearer to the little platform 
in the center of the roof. 

“I’ve guessed it out,” said Daley. “Yes, it 
must be so. See that liquid stuff the dart 


218 


ADEIFT 0^^ THE PACIFIC 


heads are resting in — see the rattlesnake heads 
in a heap yonder?^’ 

^^Why,” exclaimed Dave comprehendingly ; 
‘^poison V’ 

“Poison of the most deadly kind, lad!” de- 
clared Daley. “WeH^e got them now. They 
won’t dare to show their heads as long as we 
shake one of those poisoned darts at them. 
Only be careful how you handle them. They 
are sure, sudden death. One of the Raven 
crew was struck with one of them in an attack 
the first time we landed here. He died in an 
hour.” 

The camp-fire burned down gradually. 
Their enemies remained under cover. The 
clouds grew heavier, and there was finally no 
moonlight or other illumination of the scene. 

“It will be daylight soon,” remarked Dave, 
after a long spell of silence. “^Ir. Daley, we 
mustn’t stay here.” 

“Eight, mate. I’ve been thinking of that 
myself.” 

“See here,” said Dave, going to the remot- 
est corner of the roof away from the front of 
the hut. “There’s a tree with some branches 
in reach. Let us take that route. The trees 
are thick, clear over to what looks like some 
kind of a corral yonder.” 


THE POISON'ED DAETS 


219 


''Au excellent idea/' voted Daley. ''Well, 
try it, lad." 

Dave's suggestion was a pronounced suc- 
cess. They got to the first tree, to a second, to 
a third. Apparently their escape was unob- 
served by the natives. 

"We're safe enough now," said Daley. "I 
say, lad, look down. Whatever are those 
queer-looking animals?" 

"Horses," said Dave, straining his gaze at 
a kind of corral, inside of which half a dozen 
animals were tethered. 

"They don't look United States like," ob- 
served Daley. 

"No ; they are called dadons. They are very 
rare here, Stoodles told me. I never saw but 
one before." 

"Suppose " began Daley, descending to 

the ground. Then suddenly he exclaimed: 
"They're after us !" 

From the nearest bushes some darts cut the 
air as the two refugees reached the ground. 
The next moment, showing that they had been 
aware of their movements all along and were 
awaiting just this opportunity to attack 
them, the four weapon-makers burst into 
view. 

"Hun for it!" shouted Daley. 


220 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^^This way,” directed Dave, dashing towards 
the corral. ^^Out with your knife, Mr. Daley. 
Cut the tether of one of those cladons. ITl 
do the same. We may escape those natives 
yet.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


A WILD RIDE 

^^All aboard, mate!” shouted Daley. 

‘^Keep together,” called out Dave. 

^‘IPs going to be a tussle,” panted the sailor. 
‘^My, but she’s a skittish one.” 

Daley had mounted one of the dadons after 
cutting its tether. Dave had succeeded in 
landing himself on the back of another. 

The dadons were horses in all things except 
a peculiarlj^ long mane and a head shaped like 
that of a zebra. 

The minute Dave got mounted he managed 
to form the tether into a kind of a nose loop, 
but he could get no control of the animal un- 
der him. He could simply hold on. 

Both, dadons were wildly averse to being 
ridden. That on which Daley rode made a 
blind dash through the corral ropes, and 
Dave’s animal followed him. 

Some darts rained about the fugitives for 
a minute or two. 


231 


222 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


Then disappointed howls alone told of the 
natives they had eluded. 

^‘Try to stop/^ shouted Dave to Daley, who 
was in the lead, after they had made a reck- 
less rush of fully two miles across a great 
level stretch of heather. 

But Daley did not hear Dave or was un- 
able to heed him. He kept straight on. The 
heather ended. A great range of hills pre- 
sented. As Daley and his steed turned into 
these, Dave lost sight of them. 

He had given a thought to Jones and Lewis 
and felt it his and Daley’s duty to look up the 
fellows, even if their courage had failed them 
at a critical moment. 

Dave, however, could not stop the dadon he 
rode. The animal was perfectly uncontrolla- 
ble. It went like a flash, snorting frightfully, 
blindly grazing tree branches that hung over 
the rough route, and once or twice Dave was 
nearly swept from its back. 

He could now only assume that Daley was 
somewhere ahead, that sooner or later the an- 
imal the sailor rode, superior to Dave’s own 
in speed, would tire out and slow down. 

‘‘We mustn’t become separated,” Dave told 
himself. “Ah, there he is.” 

Dave caught a flashing view of steed and 


A WILD EIDE 


223 


rider at a break in the hills. Then they dis- 
appeared. He held on tightly, hoping his tar- 
pan would follow its mate. 

It was now daylight. The scenery about 
was indescribably wild and grand. Now they 
had reached a broad and level plateau. There 
would be a clear space, then a dense timber 
stretch. 

This alternation kept up for many a mile. 

Where is Daley was the anxious theme 
of Dave^s thoughts. am going to control 
this animal,” he decided doughtily, a minute 
later. 

Dave tried to form the loose end of the 
tether into some kind of a bridle. Jolted 
about, forced to cling closely at least with one 
hand all of the time, however, for fear he 
would be thrown olf, Dave had to abandon 
this experiment. 

‘^The sea!” he cried suddenly, catching a 
distant view of it. ^^That^s all right,” said 
Dave. ^Whether ahead or behind, Daley will 
make for the seashore. Maybe he’s there now. 
Whoa ! Whoa ! I’ve got to jump. Too late !” 

The animal had been dashing down an in- 
cline for some time. Emerging from a belt of 
verdure with startling suddenness, a sheer dip 
to the edge of a cliff was visible. 


224 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


The dadon could not stay its course. It 
fairly slipped the length of the dip. So fast 
did the animal go that Dave had not time 
to leave its back before its flying hoofs had 
struck nothingness. 

Forty feet down a dead-water bay showed, 
dotted with islands. The sensation of descent 
was one of breathlessness. 

The animal struck the water squarely with 
its forefeet. Steed and rider were borne under 
completely. 

Dave arose, free from the animal at last. 

He floated, catching his breath, and saw the 
dadon swim towards the shore and go scam- 
pering out of sight along the wooded beach. 

^‘Well,’^ commented Dave, ‘diere’s an adven- 
ture. Fm thankful for whole bones. I hope 
that Daley has fared quite as luckily.’’ 

Dave swam ashore. He sat down by some 
bushes and took off his coat, to dry it in the 
sun. Under the bushes was plenty of dead 
wood, and he reached out and secured two 
pieces to form a sort of clothes-bar. 

These he had arranged in due order. Dave 
reached for a third piece. He seized what he 
supposed to be a fragment of old wood. It 
felt soft, yielding, and drew away from his 
hand with startling suddenness. 


A WILD BIDE 


225 


^‘Eh, why/^ cried Dave. human foot!’’ 

The object had disappeared, but there was 
a rustling under the dense foliage of the 
bushes. 

^^I’ll have this out,” declared Dave, and 
jumped to his feet and pulled aside the 
bushes. 

Cowering on the ground, his face showing 
alarm and suffering, a pitiful, pleading look 
in his eyes, was a dusky native. 

‘‘The outcast — the man I saw with the priest 
of the tribe two days ago,” exclaimed Dave. 
“Yes, it’s the same man.” 

Dave was tremendously worked up at this 
recognition. He stood regarding the native 
speculatively. He fully realized that this 
meeting might mean a great deal to himself 
and his friends. 

Had he not seen the person now before him 
give a lot of the treasure gold pieces to the 
priest of the tribe? 

Was he not then as now persuaded that the 
outcast knew where the rest of the treasure 
was secreted? 

“Why,” said Dave, “this man holds the key 
to the whole situation. Now then, my friend, 
you and I must understand one another.” 


CHAPTER XXIX 


FOUND ! 

Dave Fearless pulled farther away the 
bushes that still half-screened the native. The 
man sat up, and spoke some words feebly. 
Dave shook his head. The man sank back 
dejectedly, knowing now that Dave could not 
understand him. 

Dave saw that the man was hurt and help- 
less. He tried to find out how. The outcast’s 
face expressed some relief as Dave gently 
lifted one arm and then the other. Then the 
outcast pointed to one lower limb. 

Dave moved this. The man winced. Dave’s 
face grew serious. 

‘^His left leg is broken,” said Dave. ^^Too 
bad !” 

Dave found that the man’s kneebone was 
completely shattered. He seemed to have had 
a terrible fall. As Dave proceeded with his 
ministrations gently, the man pointed to the 
cliff. 


326 


FOUND! 


227 


^Tell over there, eh?” translated Dave, nod- 
ding as the man went on with expressive ges- 
tures. ^‘Pursued by many, many. Yes, I see. 
You want to go farther? That way? The 
island out there? My man, I don’t think you 
will stand much moving.” 

Dave spent an hour bathing the injured 
limb and setting it in splints. It was a crude 
surgical operation and must have pained the 
sufferer intensely, but the very fact of kindly 
attention and treatment seemed to cheer up 
the poor fellow. 

‘^I’ve certainly got a new and great respon- 
sibility on my hands,” thought Dave. ^^What 
am I going to do now? If he is recaptured, 
he will probably be sacrificed. If he is left 
here alone, he will starve and die of neglect. 
Yes,” said Dave firmly, ^‘black or white, friend 
or foe, the poor fellow relies on my sympathy. 
He is going to get it, too, to the fullest ex- 
tent. I won’t desert him.” 

Dave busied himself looking for food. He 
hoped that Daley or the other two men might 
show up. He was near the sea. The Swalloto 
might happen by. 

^‘Well, you’re a persistent sort of a fellow,” 
commented Dave, as the outcast for the twen- 
tieth time or more pointed to the island he had 


228 


ADEIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


first indicated in the same pleading way. 
‘^What do you want to go there for?^’ 

The outcast put his finger in the sand and 
traced a boat there. 

^‘Ah, some kind of a craft on that island,” 
guessed Dave. ^^Do you mean that? All right, 
ITl investigate.” 

Dave disrobed and swam to the island the 
man had pointed out. 

He went all over it, and finally, among a 
thick clump of reeds, he came across a canoe. 
^^Good !” cried Dave, feeling that he had been 
well rewarded for his care to the sufferer. 
‘^Why, iPs a splendid little craft, paddles and 
all. The man must have brought it here and 
hidden it. He made for this spot when pur- 
sued.” 

When Dave got back to his patient with the 
canoe, the latter could not conceal his satis- 
faction and delight. 

He motioned Dave to drag the canoe close 
up to him, V hich Dave did. He reached over 
into the bow and pulled out a bag made of 
skin. 

This he handed to Dave with a free, hearty 
gesture, indicating that it was a gift. 

Dave opened the bag. His pulses beat 
pretty high. His hopes grew immensely. 


FOUND! 


229 


^^More of the gold — the same gold, part of 
the treasure he exclaimed, with glowing 
eyes. was surely right. This man knows 
all about the treasure.^’ 

Dave looked at the outcast speculatively. 
He wondered how he could make him indicate 
more. He, too, began tracing in the sand. It 
was an intricate and laborious task. At the 
end of an hour Dave looked triumphant. 

‘TUs plain as day !’’ he cried, preparing the 
canoe for a voyage. ‘^The man indicates that 
this gold is a mere sample of what he can 
produce. It is hidden on an island west. He 
pokes dots in the outline he draws, as if it is 
full of caves. He is angry at the treachery of 
the Windjammers. He will have nothing 
further to do with them. If I will cure him 
up, he will take me to the treasure. If I will 
sta}^ his friend and carry him away from his 
enemies, he will give up all the gold — all of 
it. Oh! a famous bargain. Well, I simply 
must find the Swallow now.-’ 

Dave got afloat. He put some soft grasses 
in the bottom of the canoe and made the in- 
valid comfortable. 

They got out to sea, and the youth pro- 
gressed with some skill, for it was not his first 
experience with the paddles. 


230 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

During the ensuing ten hours Dave did not 
see any craft afloat or person ashore. He kept 
going north. 

‘^Somewhere along the coast I am bound to 
run across the Small oiv/’ he confidently told 
himself. 

Dave was utterly worn out as dusk began 
to come down over land and sea. He did not 
cease his paddling, however, tired as he was. 
Some distance away he had made out a famil- 
iar landmark. 

The shades of night were falling as Dave 
drove the canoe past the natural curtain of 
vines that hid the cave for which he was mak- 
ing. 

^^Oh, see 

He dropped the paddles and sat like one 
transfixed. A glorious picture was outlined 
by a cheerful camp-fire ashore. 

It showed animated figures preparing an 
evening meal — comfort, good cheer, homelike- 
ness. 

But most of all, the radiant flare showed 
the stanch dear old steamer, the Swalloiv, in 
a safe harbor and in friendly hands. 


CHAPTER XXX 


DISASTER 

It would be impossible to do full justice to 
the joy and excitement occasioned by the re- 
turn of Dave Fearless to the Swalloiv, 

Dave had come up to the steamer unper- 
ceived. He knew how to get to the old famil- 
iar deck without being discovered. 

His first rush was for the dear old father, 
seated on a stool watching the cheerful scene 
ashore, but all the time thinking of his miss- 
ing son. 

There was an affectionate greeting between 
these two who thought so much of one an- 
other. Then Captain Broadbeam nearly 
wrung Dave^s hand lame, trying to express 
his delight at seeing him once more safe and 
sound aboard the Sivalloiv. 

^^Mr. Stoodles away — and Bob, too?” ex- 
claimed Dave disappointedly, a little later, as 
he was told of the happenings with his friends 
since he had last seen them. “That is unfor- 
231 


232 ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 

tunate. 1 hope they will soon return safely. 
In fact, it is almost indispensable that Mr. 
Stoodles see the poor native I brought aboard 
with me.” 

‘^HeTl have to see him soon, then,” said 
Doctor Barrel!, shaking his head seriously. 
^^The man is in pretty bad condition, Dave. 
I doubt if I can pull him through.” 

“He is the possessor of a great secret,” said 
Dave. “Let me tell you about it.” 

“I hope Stoodles comes back in time to talk 
with the outcast,” said Amos Fearless anx- 
iously, after Dave had told his story. 

The next morning there was some disturb- 
ing news to report by the boatswain. Gerstein 
had escaped during the night, taking the best 
equipped of the small yawls with him. 

Then there were two days of solicitous nurs- 
ing of the outcast and anxious waiting for the 
return of Stoodles and Bob. 

One morning a loud cheer brought the co- 
terie at the captain^s table in great haste and 
excitement on deck. 

Stoodles and Bob had arrived by the over- 
land route. 

There was a vast babel of talk and welcome 
lasting over an hour, while all matters were 
mutually explained. 


DISASTER 


233 


so solid with the present government 
of the Windjammers/^ boasted Pat proudly, 
“that I could command legions and phalanxes 
at my instant beck and call.” 

“That is good, Mr. Stoodles,” smiled Dave. 
“So you had them out looking everywhere for 
me, did you?” 

“Yes, and I promised them that a fearful 
visitation of fire — some of Bob’s foine fire- 
works — would disrupt the nation if within 
three days you were not found.” 

“Well, Stoodles,” said Captain Broadbeam, 
“we may need the help of the natives when we 
get farther along. For the present, however, 
there is only one thing to do. Get into shape 
to go for that treasure. The Swallow is all 
fixed up. We are in perfect sailing trim. We 
know that Nesik and his crowd are still alive, 
but we need have no fear of them without a 
ship to harbor them. Another thing — Ger- 
stein’s escape is unfortunate. He may get to 
his friends and warn them. In the morning 
we will start to hunt up the treasure.” 

“Gerstein may get there first,” suggested 
Dave. 

“Suppose he does. He’s got no ship to carry 
the treasure away in. I see possible fighting 
ahead if we run across Nesik and the Hankers, 


234 


ADEIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


but we’ve got the upper hand of them. Dave, 
lad, take Stoodles down to see the native you 
brought here. Try to find out something defi- 
nite about the hiding-place of the treasure, 
will you, Pat?” 

^^Shure, I will,” declared Stoodles. 

“Oh, the man will tell you freely — I know 
it from his gestures to me!” declared Dave. 
“He was very low last night, though. Come, 
Mr. Stoodles, I will take you to him, let him 
know that you are my friend, and the rest will 
be easy.” 

They went to the forecastle. The boatswain 
met them at the door of the little compartment 
that marked the hospital of the ship. 

“Mr. Stoodles is to see the sick native, Mr. 
Drake,” said Dave. 

The boatswain looked very somber. 

“Mr. Stoodles is too late,” he pronounced 
solemnly. 

“Too late?” echoed Dave. 

“Yes; the poor fellow died an hour ago.” 

Dave went back to the cabin with the sad 
news. Stoodles expressed a curiosity to see 
the outcast, and the boatswain accompanied 
him to the hospital. 

When later Dave looked for Pat, the 
Milesian sent word by the boatswain that he 


DISASTER 235 

was very busy and would see liis friend in the 
morning. 

It was about two hours after midnight that 
Dave awoke with a great start. As he sprang 
to the floor from his berth Bob Vilett dashed 
into the stateroom. 

‘^Dave, Dave!’’ he cried. “It’s all up with 
us.” 

“Now what ” began Dave. He was in- 

terrupted by great tramping on the deck and 
the sound of pistol-shots. 

Dave hurried on his clothes and rushed after 
Bob to the deck. 

A blow from a marlinspike sent Bob flat and 
a rough stranger grabbed Dave as he ap- 
peared. 

Captain Broadbeam and his crew were 
hemmed in near the bow, held at bay by a 
dozen armed men. 

With a sinking heart Dave realized what 
had happened — the brave little Stoallow was 
in the hands of their enemies: Captain Nesik 
of the Raven, the Hankers, and all that ras- 
cally crew. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


A LUCKY FIND 

“Land ahead!” sang out Captain Broad- 
beam’s terrific voice in foghorn bass. 

“WeTl never reach it,” declared Bob Vilett. 

“Begorra, this is the worst yet,” observed 
Pat Stoodles. 

“Steady; be ready to jump if the raft tips,” 
said Dave Fearless. 

Fog, blackness, rain, and tempest sur- 
rounded the crew of the Swallow, A critical 
moment, indeed, had arrived in their experi- 
ences. 

The capture of the Swallow early that 
morning had been effected by their enemies 
within an hour. The attack had been a vast 
surprise. No one had anticipated it, no one 
was prepared to meet it. 

Superior numbers, desperate men heavily 
armed, had simply overpo:wered those on 
board of the steamer two at a time. 

The bound captives were put ashore. With 
236 


A LUCKY FIND 


sad hearts they saw the Sicalloiv sail out of 
the secret cove in the hands of their enemies. 

Dave'S hardest trial was to listen to the tri- 
umphant taunts of Bart Hankers. The elder 
Hankers gloated over Amos Fearless. 

Captain Nesik goaded Captain Broadbeam 
to the verge of madness with his mean sneers. 

Then they steamed away, the captives got 
loose from their bonds, and there they were, 
faced with the very worst fortune, it seemed, 
where a few hours previous good luck only 
had smiled on them. 

^‘I’ve an idea,” said Pat Stoodles at once. 

‘AVell, what is it?” asked Broadbeam. 

“Put afther the rascals.^’ 

“Of course we will do that,” said the cap- 
tain, “and mighty smart, too. Don’t give up, 
lads,” he cried encouragingly to those around 
him. “We’ve the will, we’ll find a way. Some- 
thing tells me those thieving buccaneers 
haven’t the intelligence or grit to hold a good 
point wlien they make it.” 

“Captain,” said Stoodles, with a sudden air 
of importance, “if you Avill all come to the na- 
tive village with me, I’ll bargain to have you 
conveyed where you like in all the royal 
canoes of the tribe.” 

“It would take too much time — it might 


238 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


complicate matters. The sight of so many of 
us might change the ideas of the natives as 
to a friendly welcome/’ said Broadbeam. 

^‘Why not make a raft, then?” suggested 
Doctor Barrel!. 

Where to go?” asked Bob Vilett, who 
was quite dejected over the bad turn in 
affairs. 

“In search of the threasure, shure,” said 
Pat. 

“We don’t know where it is,” said Bob. 
“We might search for forty years and not find 
a trace of the treasure.” 

“Not at all,” put in Dave sharply. “Find 
an island full of caves, and we have the loca- 
tion. I am sure of that from what the out- 
cast native imparted to me.” 

“And I,” announced Pat Stoodles suddenly. 
“Begorra, I’m the lad who can put my finger 
right on the one particular cave where the 
threasure is stored.” 

All hands looked at Stoodles in a sort of 
dubious amazement. 

“Is that true, Mr. Stoodles?” asked Doctor 
Barrel!. 

“Shure it is.” 

“How can you know that?” inquired Dave. 

“The outcast tould me.” 


V 


A LUCKi^ FIND 239 

“Told you. Why, he was dead when you 
saw him,^’ said Dave. 

“The outcast tould me,’’ reiterated Pat sol- 
emnly. “Not another wurred now. I am 
spaking from facts. Get afloat, make for the 
lasht of the three western islands. Land me. 
I’ll take you to the threasure blindfold.” 

They set to work at once to make a raft. 
This was not difficult, for plenty of excellent 
material was at hand. It was late afternoon 
when they got afloat. At ten o’clock that 
evening, caught in a terrible storm, the ap- 
pearance of breakers denoted the nearness of 
land. 

“Jump for your lives!” suddenly rang out 
the voice of Captain Broadbeam. 

The raft had struck an immense rock and 
was splintered to pieces by the contact. Now 
it was a wild swim for shore in the boiling 
surf. 

Captain Broadbeam anxiously and eagerly 
counted his men a few minutes later as they 
ranged on the beach. 

“None lost,” he announced gladly. “Where 
are we, Stoodles?” 

“I can’t exactly tell, your honor, but I 
should say on the second western island. I’ll 
take a short trip and report, sii%” 


240 


ADRIFT OX THE PACIFIC 


Stoodles strolled away in one direction; 
Dave, ever active, went in another. 

In half an hour Stoodles was back to the 
little group of refugees with the statement 
that they were on the second west island, as 
he had guessed before. 

‘‘Dave seems to be gone a long time,” ob- 
served Amos Fearless, after an hour had 
passed by, during which they all busied them- 
selves in securing such pieces of the wrecked 
raft as came ashore. 

Suddenly Dave appeared. He was out of 
breath, he had been running fast. Something 
of suppressed excitement in his manner 
showed itself plainly. 

“What are you saving all that wreckage 
for?” he asked Bob Yilett. 

“Why, to make a new raft, of course.” 

“DonT waste your time,” advised Dave, 
with a quick, glad laugh. “Captain, father, 
men, follow me! I^^e found the Swallow.’^ 

“What !” shouted Captain Broadbeam, 
transfixed. 

“She is anchored not a mile to the north. 
Six men left in charge of her are all stupid 
with drink on her deck. I crept aboard, bound 
them all, and the Sioallow is ours once more,” 


CHAPTER XXXII 


CONCLUSION 

“What are the sticks for, Mr. Stoodles?’’ 
asked Dave Fearless. 

“Share, they’re reed torches.” 

“Oh, we have to have a light, have we?” 
asked Bob Vilett. 

“Share, ye have. It’s simmering darkness 
we’re going into.” 

“This is the famoas cave island, is it?” said 
Dave. “Well, it deserves the name. Why, it’s 
a regalar honeycomb.” 

“No sign of Nesik and the others yet,” said 
Captain Broadbeam. “I wonder what has be- 
come of them?” 

“That’s aisy to sarmise, captain,” declared 
Pat Stoodles. “They left the fellows aboard 
the Swallow to gazzle and get sthapid while 
they took a yawl and came here to remove the 
threasare.” 

“Yes, yoa mast remember,” said Dave, “that 
their whole plan all along has been to delade 
241 


242 


ADRIFT 0^ THE PACIF1,'< 


their crew into the belief that the vreasure 
went down in the Stvallow.’’ 

‘^Wan, two, three, four, five,” spoke Stoo- 
dies, patrolling a patch of beach, and looking 
up and counting along the immense row of 
fissures and openings in the solid rock. ‘^The 
lasht one I indicate is the place we must go 
into.” 

^^You mean to say,” observed Dave, ‘^that 
the treasure is hidden in that cave.” 

^Thanks to you 1 mane to say it, and sthick 
to it, too, my brave lad,” cried Pat exuberantly. 

‘‘Thanks to me?” repeated Dave blankly. 

“Begorra, yes.” 

“You puzzle me, Mr. Stoodles.” 

“Arrah, then, out with it: The outcast was 
dead when I saw him, but I happened to no- 
tice that his back was tattooed. It took me 
eight hours to make out the marks. I can 
spake the native dialect well enough, but the 
script was hard to figure out. But I did it.” 

“And what did it tell?” asked Dave inter- 
estedly. 

“Well, two outcasts had found the gold. So 
as not to forget exactly where it was, one tat- 
tooed a diagram or chart, or whatever you may 
call it, on the back of the other. One of them 
died a little later. That’s all, come on.” 


CONCLITSIO>;r 


243 


The wonders of the next two hours, those 
who followed the guidance of Pat Stoodles 
never forgot. It was like a visit to fairy- 
land. They penetrated underground cham- 
bers of dazzling magnificence, the torches illu- 
minating walls and roofs of glittering splen- 
dor. 

At last, in a depression of a great rock- 
crystal stone, they came across a heap of 
straw. 

Pulling it aside, a golden gleam dazzled the 
eager eyes of the onlookers. 

^Tt’s there! Oh, it’s there!’’ cried the en- 
raptured Dave Fearless. 

The ocean treasure, again recovered, lay be- 
fore them. 

It had come so easily, so naturally, that 
there was something unreal about the whole 
thing. 

The moment could not help but be filled 
with the intensest joy and excitement. Yet in 
a plain, practical, business way they went to 
work to encase the great mountain of loose 
golden coins in sacks which they had brought 
with them. 

It was nightfall when they had got the 
golden hoard all on board of the Sicalloiv, and 
safely stored in the hold of the stanch little 


244 


ADKIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


steamer that had carried them through so 
many adventures and perils in safety up to 
this supreme moment of their lives. 

What of Nesik and his cohorts? Fifty times 
during the evening this theme was earnestly 
discussed. 

Dave Fearless sat thinking over this and 
many other things late that night, enjoying 
the cool, refreshing breeze as he lay comforta- 
bly in a hammock. 

Suddenly he jumped upright with a shock. 
A form dripping with water clambered into 
view. He landed on the deck, staring wildly 
about him. 

‘^Someone, quick!’’ he gasped. ^H’m done 
out. Quick, Fearless ! Start the steamer, 
quick ! Danger — explosion !” 

^^Daley!” shouted Dave. And then, as the 
man fell like a clod at his feet, he ran right 
down into the engine room. 

Something told Dave that this man was giv- 
ing an important friendly warning. 

He fairly pulled Bob Adams from his bunk. 
He ordered him to start the engines at once. 
He ran to the cabin and roused Captain 
Broadbeam. 

“What’s this — the steamer going?” cried 
Broadbeam. 


CONCLUSION 


245 


^^Yes, something is wrong,” gasped Dave. 
^^Conie on deck — the mischief !” 

A frightful roar rent the air. The whole 
ship shivered. Just behind him as he came up 
on deck Dave saw a mighty flare, a great lift- 
ing of the waters. Then all was still. 

It was not until the following morning, 
when Daley recovered consciousness, that they 
knew the terrible peril they had escaped 
through his friendly intervention. 

It seemed that he had managed to get to 
the second west island. He was nearly 
starved when he ran across Nesik and the 
others. 

He decided it was politic to make friends 
with them. The night previous he was the 
only trusted one of the crew that Nesik and 
the Hankers took in the yawl that went for 
the treasure. 

^^They got the gold,” narrated Daley. 

^^Oh, they did?” muttered Captain Broad- 
beam, with a jolly smile. 

helped them — in bags just as Gerstein 
had left it.” 

^^Smart boy, that same Gerstein!” chuckled 
Pat Stoodles. 

^^Then they discovered that you people had 
recaptured the Sivalloiv/’ continued Daley. 


246 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


^^All day they hid with the yawl in a little 
cave. They decided you people would be too 
watchful to ever afford them a chance to again 
get possession of the steamer. You certainly 
would try to find them. Ger stein submitted a 
diabolical plan. They had some dynamite 
used in clearing away a stopped-up passage- 
way in the cave. They made up a float, fused 
the dynamite, and Avith a cord guided it down 
the beach toAvards you. I got away from 
them.’^ 

“And warned us in time, braA^e mate I” cried 
Captain Broadbeam, heartily grasping the 
sailor’s hand. “We’re your friends for life.” 

The Swallow did not leaA^e the Windjam- 
mers’ Island for a week. During that time 
Stoodles made several Ausits to the natives. 
On one of these he and Dua e took with them 
the two boxes DaA^e had purchased at Mino- 
taur Island. 

They returned feeling pretty good over 
something accomplished, and refused to dis- 
cuss it Avith the intensely curious Bob Vilett. 

Jones and LeAvis were found and taken 
aboard of the StcalloWy which started home- 
ward-bound at last. 

At Mercury Island their prisoners from the 
Raven Avere set ashore. Of Captain Nesik, the 


CONCLXJSIOIsr 247 

Hankers, and the others not a trace had been 
found. 

Dave and his friends well knew that a ter- 
rible disappointment had faced the plotters 
when they came to discover that the bags they 
had secured in one of the caves did not con- 
tain the gold. 

The native outcasts they were certain had 
removed the gold to the place where they 
found it, filling the bags with something 
heavy and replacing these at the original 
hiding-place. 

Amos Fearless gave his friends a royal ban- 
quet the day the Swallow arrived at San 
Francisco. 

Each one, down to the humblest sailor, re- 
ceived a generous share of the ocean treasure 
they had suffered so much to secure. 

The rest of the gold was shipped by rail to 
Quanatack, and Doctor BarrelFs curiosities 
to the Government at Washington. 

Captain Broadbeam, Doctor Barrell, Pat 
Stoodles, and Bob Vilett were special guests 
of Dave and his father in the new beautiful 
home they bought on Long Island Sound. 

“Dave, when are you ever going to tell us 
that secret of yours and Stoodles’ about those 
two boxes you took from Minotaur Island?” 


248 


ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC 


asked Bob one evening, as they all sat on the 
broad veranda of the Fearless home, enjoying 
the lovely evening. 

^^Oh, that is only a side issue now,’’ smiled 
Dave, ^^seeing we got the treasure.” 

great scheme, though,” said Stoodles. 
‘H’ll tell it. Dave simply got the royal sanc- 
tion at the Windjammers’ Island to establish 
a postal service. We did it up officially be- 
fore the whole tribe. We printed ten thousand 
postage stamps.” 

^‘And as we control the whole issue,” said 
Dave, ‘^of course we can charge our own price 
for them as rarities.” 

The old ocean diver and his son were sorry 
when their loyal friends had to leave them for 
the duties of life that called them to business. 

They saw much of one another, however, 
from time to time. Each was splendidly pro- 
vided for out of the ocean treasure. Good 
fortune did not spoil any of them, and each 
settled down to a practical, useful, and happy 
life. 


THE END 


LBJl 72 



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